An Impressive Work on Recycling
Berlin, Germany, April 12th, 2021 – The ‘Beyond Your Clothes’ campaign is part of the “SMART Textile & Garments” project, funded by the European Commission and implemented by sequa GmbH.
It is a Pan-European campaign consisting of raising awareness on the disastrous environmental consequences of the fast fashion industry and its social impact. It is becoming a growing concern, as our clothes consumption has increased by 60% in only 15 years and is announced to exponentially rise under a business-as-usual scenario.
Reuse of Textiles
Meanwhile, with Covid-19, an unprecedented level of unsold garments are burnt or destined for landfills. As a result, some countries are now submerged by this upsurging issue and are considering exporting to stop the accumulation of textile waste.
Therefore, it seems particularly vital to increase awareness around this new environmentally threatening conjuncture.
It is in this critical context that the ‘Beyond Your Clothes campaign’ has been created, consisting of an innovative website technology (parallax) which provides, in an interactive and ludic approach, different layers of information to a wide audience, from fast fashion consumers to sustainably active individuals.
Consumer Trends and Its Impact
Nowadays, our consuming habits have massively evolved, with brands creating up to 52 different collections per year compared to just 2 seasons a few decades ago.
At present a garment can be worn only once, becoming a disposable product.
This purchase behavior brings catastrophic consequences to our environment, given that now, the clothing and textile industry is currently the second largest polluter in the world.
EU Sustainability Strategy
The EU’ Strategy for Sustainable Textiles aims to reduce the impact of fast fashion on the environment, adopting a new Circular Economy Action Plan.
It includes the EU’s new comprehensive Strategy for Textiles with proposals to put in place a new sustainable framework, alongside developing eco-design measures to ensure that textile products are fit for circularity, as well as establishing the uptake of secondary raw materials, tackling the presence of hazardous chemicals, and empowering business and private consumers to choose sustainable textiles and get easy access to reuse services.
Additionally, the EU aspires to achieve high levels of separate textile waste collection by 2025. The ‘Strategy for Textiles’ is part of a wider approach called the ‘European Green Deal’, which identifies textiles as a priority sector for the EU to pave its way towards a carbon neutral and circular economy.
Educational Efforts Conducted on the Web Platform
To maximize reach and educate consumers on the potential ecological implications of fast fashion, 360 Agency Berlin created multiple digital assets to build the campaign effectively
To further enhance the message with riveting imagery, the co-director of the ground-breaking and award-winning documentary RiverBlue, Roger Williams, graciously allowed 360 Agency Berlin to reuse the outstanding video material that took the crew three years to shoot.
Despite unattainable authorizations and arduous logistics, they succeeded in making a beautiful, compelling, and complete documentary, providing light onto the world’s most polluted waterways and areas of the global clothing manufacturing industry: China, Bangladesh, India, and Indonesia.
In parallel, 360 Agency Berlin took months to gather the most engaged influencers around the globe who have shown the true interest in the vital sustainability aspect of the campaign. To assess their sustainable engagement, 360 Agency Berlin mentioned that no funds were involved in relaying this campaign, eliminating influencers having only a pecuniary motivation.
