Fashion Revolution Macedonia: Spurring Positive Local Change
Do you often wonder where your food comes from? Then why wouldn’t you do the same for your clothing – our chosen skin, whose production causes the fashion industry to be second biggest polluter on Earth? Do you ever think about how and where your clothes were made? Would you still pay for a fast-fashion piece if you saw how and where it was constructed? You probably wouldn’t pay a penny if you witnessed the conditions and heard the stories of the people that are making your clothes. The whole supply chain and all the damage on the scarce resources of our planet wouldn’t make you smile. And the chain is bigger than you can imagine! Then, why don`t you at least start thinking before buying your next piece of clothing? Start thinking what you can donate and what you can mend. We all add up to a positive change affecting overconsumption, garment workers wages, waste, emissions of carbon and chemicals, heritage and culture, skills and techniques and last but not least, the future of fashion industry – transparency and traceability. We all need to raise awareness of all the above mentioned, starting with our own daily habits.
For this reason, Fashion Revolution Macedonia held its first event in Skopje on the 1st October 2019. Our engaging with the public began with True Cost Documentary Screening & Clothes Swap Event.
`Knowing that back in 2015 when we began the movement locally, there was barely a word about sustainable fashion, I do see positive trend in this field on a local level. The interest, as well as the awareness is taking an upward incline, but still a lot has to be done in order to start taking significant actions in the name of sustainable fashion.’ – notes Ana Jakimovska, Fashion Designer and Country Coordinator of Fashion Revolution Macedonia.
As a team we decided to start with a public swap event and screening of a documentary as True Cost is, since we felt that the people here, no matter their age and sex, prefer buying brand new clothes instead of looking for other ways of substituting their old clothes.
“We are very pleased with the first presentation of Fashion Revolution Macedonia. We want to encourage and show people how to become conscious and sustainable fashion consumers. One of the easiest ways is the clothing swap. We had lots of donations, which was exciting, but more needs to be done to nurture the spirit of exchange and the fact that we are continuing the life of our wardrobe. People don’t need to be shy to participate in the exchange” said Irina Tosheva, Fashion Designer and team member.
In our opinion and as seen at the first event, we confirmed that people need to get more informed and educated about the mission of this movement and the transparency in the chain of the fashion industry in general.
`Sustainability with all its dimensions within fashion is still widely discussed in our surroundings, so every action can help in starting the dialog. However, It’s exciting to see how many people are sharing this interest. Looking forward to make change happen together.` – says Viktor Stojkovski, Fashion Designer and team member.
Undoubtedly, the number of people that only donated clothes prevailed the number of people willing to swap and give longevity of any piece of clothing exhibited at the event.
“Our event was a good springboard of informing the local public about the need for increased transparency in the fashion industry. It inspired citizens to look beyond their ‘fast fashion’ habits and to make use of the different ways of making their clothing more sustainable, like clothes swapping, recycling, up-cycling, etc.” – says Ema Jakimovska, Communications Specialist and team member.
Nonetheless, organizing our first event locally gave incentive for people that want to be educated on the topic and very enthusiastically gave their support of any similar, future events of this kind.
`We need to wake up, we need to think about our environment and we need to think for the people that work in the fashion industry, we need to think for the young people and young people need to build their own style, to buy quality not quantity, because less is more…` – adds Eva Zarezankova – Fashion Designer and team member.
As a team of designers it is of great pleasure to get involved in a fashion revolution of this kind, knowing that our actions will bring us closer to more positive changes in the fashion industry.
`It is a pleasure being a part of the Fashion Revolution Macedonia team. I’m proud of how people in Skopje responded to our first event. We need to fight for this cause and spread the message of Fashion Revolution every day. People will wake up eventually.` – says Magdalena Tanevska – Fashion Designer and team member.
`We love fashion. But we don’t want our clothes to exploit people or destroy our planet. We demand radical, revolutionary change.`
Our mission is to bring everyone together to make that happen!
*In the news as post-event highlight on local level, we suggest the following:
German brand leaves from Veles, N. Macedonia manufacturing company because of pettiness for low wages and poor work conditions of factory workers. (Source: www.fokus.mk).
