Did you know that making a single cotton T-shirt requires an estimated 2,700 litres of fresh water, enough to meet one person’s drinking needs for 2.5 years (source: European Parliament). The textile industry is responsible for over 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, yet to make its green revolution to minimise the negative environmental impact along the production and consumption lifecycle.

The event “Youth for a greener clothing and fashion industry” is going to be held on Wednesday 18^th of May 2022 from 15.00-17.30pm CEST. It aims to showcase how young fashion/clothing creators, designers and entrepreneurs from the Mediterranean area are supported by ENI CBC Med funded projects, among them, STAND Up! project.

The entrepreneurs joining the webinar will be able to showcase their stories, putting circularity, sustainability, resource-efficiency at the core of the value chain, from design to production, to reduce the industry toll on the environment and make circular business models a success and an inspiration for others. Some of the STAND Up! beneficiaries will join the event to share their inspiring stories and experiences behind their projects. The confirmed participants are:

• Green Fashion (Egypt): It’s a Cairo-based fashion brand and social enterprise that promotes a sustainable and eco-conscious lifestyle. They design and produce environmentally responsible bags, clothes and products turning waste of fabric from textile factories into high quality products
• Verabuccia (Italy): It’s a young start-up that has devised a new type of material, patenting and producing "Ananasse" through the use of waste from the real pineapple peel. Ananasse is an organic pineapple peel which, through an industrial production process, acquires the characteristics of application such as those of a traditional fabric or leather while maintaining the initial aesthetic appearance of a vegetable peel.
• La Boutique Sociale (Lebanon): It’s a social enterprise working on zero waste in Lebanon. What they do is upcycling and recycling unwanted donated clothes and items and sort them into different categories to be reused in different ways: selling pieces in very good conditions to vulnerable people at a very low price.

More speakers will be announced soon!

Engaging the audience for a fashion revolution

The event was selected as part of the 36 ‘stops’ of the European Union’s #TheGreenTrack campaign, which intends to give visibility to young people engaged in activities in favour of the environment in view of United Nations’ Biodiversity Conference COP15 to be held later this yer in China.

In order to advocate for a global fashion industry that conserves and restores the environment and values people over growth and profit, there will be room for the presentation of The MEDNEW initiative, a platform launched by TEX-MED Alliances project to foster multiculturalism, sustainability and social fairness in the fashion industry.

In this part of the event, our Spanish partner Texfor (Textile Industry Confederation, Spain) will present the platform through the panel of Luz Villalta, internationalization area manager at Texfor. The young female entrepreneur Júlia G. Escribà, who also joined the STAND Up! trainings and was selected for developing her green business model, will take part of the event. At the end of it, Paola Migliorini, Deputy Head of Unit “Circular Economy, Sustainable Production and Consumption”, European Comission, will present the EU strategy for sustainable and circular textiles.

The final aim of the event is to empower consumers, in particular the younger generations, since responsible and conscious clothing buying and consumption habits can have a huge positive impact in the environment. Don’t miss out the “Youth for a greener clothing and fashion industry” stop and REGISTER NOW!

CHECK DRAFT AGENDA