Fashion Shift Now!

Lara und ihr Freund sind extra von Brüssel nach Hamburg gereist, um sich die Ausstellung Fast Fashion anzuschauen. Aus gutem Grund – denn in ihrer Heimatstadt betreibt sie zusammen mit Co-Founderin Emilie und der Grafikerin Juliette die Website „fashionshiftnow.org“.

Was es damit auf sich hat und warum die Freundinnen auf die Idee gekommen sind, eine gemeinsame Internetplattform zu gründen erfahrt ihr hier in einem kleinen Interview mit Lara & Emilie. Viel Spaß beim Durchlesen und werft gerne mal einen Blick auf die Website! Es lohnt sich!

Emilie, tell us more about your Project „fashionshiftnow.org„

Fashion Shift Now is a community of people getting together around fun challenges incorporate slow fashion into their daily lives. The goal? Transforming the fashion industry, starting with our own clothes consumption habits. The vision? Collectively creating lifestyles in which we can dress fashionably without destroying the world.

The lowest entry-bar to participate: joining the conversation on our Facebook group aka community blog, where we exchange tips, articles, documentaries, events and more about the fashion shift!

The next step: going to our website (http://www.fashionshiftnow.org/) and choosing a challenge. Small, Medium or Large? Whether you’d like to start very big or teeny tiny… there is a challenge for everyone. When a challenger registers on the website, we can add them to the official participants on our Community Page. Then it’s all about diving into the experience: discover our Slow Fashion Shopping Guide and our News/Events page for tips on how to get started!

And why have you founded „fashionshiftnow“?

A couple of months ago, after another big and slightly guilty-making shopping binge, we progressively started discovering the alternatives that exist to our unsustainable clothing habits. From (non-stinky!) second-hand to stylish and affordable ethical brands, we realised there was a way to eliminate certain contradictions that exist between our values (respect for the environment, fairness) and our actions (investing in wholly unsustainable products).

Because we’re certainly not the only ones that care both about fashion and the planet, we wanted to spread those solutions. It all started in Brussels in January 2015. We invited our friends to join us and to take up slow fashion challenges. We quickly gathered a growing community of participants and decided to create a website in order to provide tips, news and more for our challengers.

What was the idea behind „fashionshiftnow“? 

Fashion Shift Now was born out of the realisation that we don’t need to go naked in order to be stylish, AND keep the world in good shape. The world of slow fashion offers us countless alternatives to filling our wardrobes with clothes that we love, that we need, and that the planet loves too. The days of stinky second-hand shops and ethical-is-only-for-hippies are over.

Stylish & affordable responsible brands, clothes swaps, clothes libraries, and other circular economy concepts are sprouting out of the ground. So, what are we waiting for?! For many of us, it’s about habits and information. How to know where to start? Where to find stylish and affordable responsible clothing? Where are the cool events? What is really fair and sustainable, and what is not?

This is where Fashion Shift Now comes in. More that simply awareness-raising, Fashion Shift Now is a community that invites people to come into action by choosing a slow fashion challenge of their size: S, M or L. The Fashion Shift Now Facebook EVENT serves as community blog where the experience becomes real, shared and connected! Fashion shifters can register on our website, and make use of our Slow Fashion SHOPPING GUIDE tool — tailored to be stylish, affordable and constantly updated.

Fashion Shift Now is about facilitating the transformation of values into action by connecting people with alternatives, and vice versa. In other words, save the planet: don’t go naked, become a Fashion Shifter.

That sounds good! Then you surely have a few tips for a fair Lifestyle?

Geert Lejeune from WWF put it in a nice way yesterday, by mentioning 5 steps towards a more sustainable lifestyle, 1 being the best and 5 the very least you can do:

1. Use less
2. Reuse
3. Recycle
4. Use better
5. …don’t change anything…

Fashion Shift Now is about the first 4. Wherever you are at, there’s always something you can do! Our number one tip for a fair lifestyle is to think about genuine needs. Reduce consumption by buying only what is necessary and in good quality for it to last longer. Then, well, second hand… is new for you! From second hand Facebook groups to private sales, second-hand is all over, online and offline — and there’s no greater satisfaction than giving a second life to a well-spotted beautiful piece at such an affordable price! And when we do buy new, buy better… invest in the products and people that make the effort to do things right (or at least better!).

Many thanks for the informations! Now we are also curious about who are your favorite Designers and Brands?!

Lara: I’m a big fan of The Reformation in the US, Luz Collections for his playful swimsuit collection and Valentine Gauthier. Emilie: I adore Veja shoes and Nudie Jeans or Mud Jeans. In terms of local creative designers in Brussels, I recommend Wear a story of Lauriane Milis. And we also enjoy searching for bargains on sites like clothing or even stay on second-hand sale of Facebook groups!

And what are your favorite clothes?

Interestingly, we both have completely different styles. Emilie: My absolute favorite item of clothing is my dungarees. Because I like the colorful and somewhat grungy street style – as opposed to Lara’s penchant for elegance and chic. Inspired by her grandmother out of -the- ordinary style, she enjoys everything light and airy, especially dresses and blouses, and carries more solid colors – like white, black, gray and dark blue.

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