Windesheim students promoting greater transparency in the clothing industry

This week a group of international students from the Honours College were active promoting the Fashion Revolution week to draw attention to the origin and sustainability of clothing.

Green Hub

The Fashion Revolution Week is an international annual event that calls for more transparency in the clothing industry. This has inspired a group of five students from the Honours College. Under the name of "Green Hub" they try to make Windesheim more sustainable, this time by bringing the Fashion Revolution Week to Windesheim.

Second-hand clothing market

The students do this by organizing for instance a second-hand clothing market. “We have called on students to give us the clothes they no longer wear so that we can sell them. In exchange for the donation, the students receive a coin, which they can use to select a free item of clothing,” says Green Hub initiator Frederike Freitag. The proceeds go to the Fashion Revolution foundation, which then uses it to promote sustainability awareness.

#whomademyclothes

The Green Hub has also started a competition of Windesheim students posting photos on Instagram in which they wear their nicest second-hand outfit. They added the hashtag "Whomademyclothes?". In these photos they tag the clothing brands they wear. This way, the participants indirectly call upon these brands to take their responsibility and increase their transparency about the origin of their clothes. The hashtag has been very popular internationally since the collapse of a textile factory in Bangladesh. Students who participate in the Instagram promotion will receive a gift voucher worth €20, to be spent at "Finders & Keepers", a vintage clothing store in Zwolle.

Bangladesh

In 2013, a textile factory in Bangladesh collapsed, killing 1,138 people. The factory did not meet the regulations and the employees had to deal with poor working conditions. The collapse of the factory caused worldwide abhorrence, with the fashion revolution week as a reaction.

Future

The sustainability adventure of the Honours College students does not stop when the Fashion Revolution week is over: "Actually we’re just getting started. The clothing market, for example, is already set up quite nicely, but we notice that some students are a bit embarrassed to browse through second-hand clothes in public. There is still a considerable taboo on it. That’s why we’re looking for a more remote place on campus. In the future, we also want to use mannequins, for example, so that the clothing can be presented more elegantly. There are a lot of things we can already see that need improvement. We want to take these findings into account in the coming years and also pass them on to future students."