The GREEN WASH - a hopeful contra movement to repair the disconnected fashion system
Upcycle Studio Hurra PangPang (Sweden) and talent platform New Order of Fashion (the Netherlands) invited curious visitors of Dutch Design Week to The GREEN WASH. Over 23.000 visitors were blown away by the design potential of discarded garments. From the sourcing of the material to the design to the tailoring and making of the piece itself; forgotten materials were turned into new, yummy, long lasting and much valued fashion pieces before the visitor’s very own eyes.
Cross-border/international
Netherlands
Sweden
{Empty}
Eindhoven (the Netherlands), Gothenburg a.e. (Sweden)
It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
Yes
2022-10-30
As a representative of an organization, in partnership with other organisations
Name of the organisation(s): New Order of Fashion Foundation Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation First name of representative: Anouk Last name of representative: van der EL Gender: Female Nationality: Netherlands Function: Partnerships Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Torenallee 22 Town: Eindhoven Postal code: 5617 BD Country: Netherlands Direct Tel:+31 6 28234479 E-mail:anouk@neworderoffashion.com Website:https://neworderoffashion.com/
Name of the organisation(s): HURRA PANGPANG Type of organisation: For-profit company First name of representative: Hanna Linnea Last name of representative: Ryd Gender: Female Nationality: Sweden Function: Co-founder, Creative Head, Sustainable Designer Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Ostindiegatan 2A Town: Göteborg Postal code: 41452 Country: Sweden Direct Tel:+46 70 841 83 20 E-mail:hello@hurrapangpang.com Website:https://www.hurrapangpang.com/
"How will our relationship to 'creating' change once we no longer have access to virgin materials?" - Designer Sarah Roseman, World Hope Forum, January 2023
A new generation of designers and makers are craving for reconnection in their attempt to counterbalance and repair the current disconnected fashion system. Reconnection to the materials they work with, their origin and their potential. Reconnection to the making process and craftsmanship. Reconnection to heritage. And reconnection to true inventiveness.
In THE GREEN WASH, Sweden based Fashion Upcycle Studio Hurra PangPang (by Izabella Simmons & Hanna Linnea Ryd) and Netherlands based Talent Platform New Order of Fashion joined forces to challenge the assumptions, patterns and beliefs that shape the current linear, wasteful system of fashion production and consumption. During Dutch Design Week (Northern Europe's largest design fair), we invited curious visitors to the NOoF LAB in Eindhoven to be blown away by the design potential of discarded garments as they experienced the materials, craftsmanship and creative love that goes into the fashion production process first hand. From the sourcing of the material to the design and the making of the piece itself; forgotten materials were turned into new, yummy and long lasting fashion pieces before the (23.000) visitors' very own eyes. A passionate team of young designers, tailors and stylists illustrated an unprecedented, immersive and most impactful circular design experience where the created garments became a much valued showpiece of the new owner’s wardrobe for life.
With THE GREEN WASH, we developed an avant garde circular design concept that inspired, provoked and excited makers as well as visitors to make better future fashion choices. The learnings of THE GREEN WASH are now being perfected into permanent and pop-up successor projects in Gothenburg, Eindhoven and Amsterdam.
A proven concept for the sustainable future of fashion.
Circular Fashion
Fashion Redesign
Consumer Education
Consumer Activation
Upcycling Blueprint
According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 80% of a product's environmental impact is influenced by decisions made at the design stage and re-purposing of discarded material is the MOST resource-efficient solution for the environment. Using a pair of discarded jeans as raw material versus virgin denim will reduce the design's ecological footprint 24 times, saving an estimated 4550l water and 5,4kg Co2. Of the average 15 kg of discarded textile per person in Sweden annualy, less than 5% finds its way to the secondhand market, generating more than 95% of textile surplus - a valuable local resource.
Our key objectives were twofold:
(1) Equip young designers and makers to design circular
Young designers are eager to play their part but lack (in education and practice) systemic understanding, material knowledge, practical
remake skills to reimagine and purposefully design for recyclability, a network of design resources and a community of likeminded others. By giving exemplary practitioners a platform, in-depth material knowledge, tools, a community, network and relevant skills, The GREEN WASH created a blueprint that strengthened the foundation of an alternative fashion and regenerative system that benefits our planet. In their turn, participating creators became ambassadors and teachers themselves resulting in first successors in Gothenburg, Amsterdam and Eindhoven.
(2) Educate and activate consumers to make more sustainable choices
During The GREEN WASH, discussions were had and seeds were planted in the heads of over 23.000 visitors. The GREEN WASH is the hitherto missing link between overconsumption and waste, connecting creator and consumer. To ultimately illustrate actionable and exciting fashion solutions work together as a common force for circular flows in the fashion industry.
We provocatively play with known terms like 'GREEN WASH' and 'SWEAT SHOP' to even further acknowledge the urgent act of positive change we need to make.
Both Hurra PangPang and New Order of Fashion are experienced and talented spatial designers thus putting great emphasis on the quality as well as the aesthetics of the experience. Our enclosed photography and short video will illustrate this.
The visitor were invited to experience The GREEN WASH in 3 steps:
1. The Harvest
Visitors were invited to harvest raw materials from the nicely curated surplus generated by todays over consumption that we sourced from local secondhand sorting 'HET GOED'. Based on our clearly (visually) explained method: ingredient 1 + ingredient 2 = fresh design. Visitors could pick according to suggestions made or could be adventurous and pick their own combinations. In both cases, uniquely placing the consumer at the center of and lead accountable for the sourcing of the raw materials that go into their designs.
2. Meet the Designer
Harvested pieces were presented to the designer whom together with the visitor sketched their new garment or fashion accessory. Prepayment was then done here according to our transparent payment manifesto called The SIX S’s.
3. The Sweat Shop
When happy with the result the pieces were sent into The SWEAT SHOP for production. At this visible atelier, our team of skilled sewers and tailors produced the custom pieces in full view to fully portray the labor and skills needed behind your new-from-old showpiece of fashion.
The flow of the three simple steps was well planned, tested (during smaller events leading up to Dutch Design Week) and perfected and can serve as a blueprint for future endeavours. And even though not everyone actively purchased their own custom item, the whole experience was transparent and visible for over 23.000 visitors who could touch and see circular fashion being made right before their eyes. For most of them, for the first time.
THE GREEN WASH won 5th place in the acclaimed top 10 'must visit' of Dutch Design Week (out of a total of 2600 exhibitions).
In today's fashion industry, more often than not, most elements in the value chain (raw materials, farmers, makers, shippers,...) bare the risk and get underpaid by the retailer. The GREEN WASH believes in traceability, transparency, inclusiveness, fair practice and honesty when presenting the full and local production line.
To communicate clearly for all visitors, we summed it up in our 'THE SIX S's' manifesto that determined the price of each creation:
1. SORTING - Collecting textile surplus at local sorting facilities
2. SHIPPING - Using local recycling collaborators decreases the pollution of transport
3. STYLE - Designers time, skills and talent to reinvent the surpluses together with the consumer
4. SEWING - Producing new pieces, Sewers turn waste into treasure in-house for visitors to see
5. SUPPLY - Additional material needed or manipulation to link the raw materials together
6. SHOP - The shop you're in, housing the full production, everything between interiors function to machines needed.
The total price of your selected materials is therefor multiplied by SIX for the final price, and the price for the material is not for the material itself but calculated upon labour and skill needed for that specific piece.
Example: 10€ shirt A + 10€ shirt B + 5€ fringes x 6 = 150€ Western Shirt
The previous gap between consumer and maker is now bridged and here to transform the way we consume and proudly value our items.
The SIX S’s also provided the method we used when distributing team members' wages, giving everyone an equal part based on the labour and duties that went into the garment.
THE GREEN WASH is accessible for everyone, but to make it even more inviting for everyone to JOIN, we created free creative sewing kits for every curious visitor with a link to short videos with simple yet fun remake tutorials by Studio Hurra PangPang, making remake affordable for everyone.
THE GREEN WASH, took place amidst the Dutch Design Week festivities that attract 350.000 curious citizens of all ages and backgrounds annually. Over the course of 9 days, more than 23.000 visitors were welcomed into The GREEN WASH. The magic of the concept happened in the connection and immersive interaction between these citizens (visitors) and our makers and designers. Together they learned, examined, wondered, shared, sourced and created. They jointly showcased a radically new, local and regenerative system that respects materials and the people who create the garments.
The customers were given real faces for everyone involved in the finished piece. Since The SWEAT SHOP is in full view throughout the event, good & healthy work conditions are demonstrated. Shopping as an experience no longer has to circle only around the 'quick rush' of purchasing new items but around participation, education, and most important: spending time, value and care. The shopping experience here is about the social - it is a safe haven and community where everyone is equally included and involved.
International & national connections were created for The GREEN WASH continuation - openings such as work intergeneration projects, where skilled tailors arriving in need of work and a safe community, belonging and appreciation for long term skills and passion. This all within the knowledgeable and accepting platform of The GREEN WASH.
Additionally, a close relationship directly with and physically within the local second hand sorting is key - through meticulous and hands-on research uncover what specific material to target with a rational design solution. What materials are clogging our systems right here, right now? A strong example is the mens shirt, the customer doesn't shop for that specific garment within the secondhand market so we formed a rational remake-recipe specifically designed for it. This will not only change its appeal but also attract a new target group of consumers.
Local & regional
The local network of 'likeminded others' in Eindhoven and the province of North Brabant was amazing. We worked with several local academies that supplied us with sewer and tailor trainees. We worked closely with several local suppliers, most closely and intensively with local recycler and secondhand stores of HET GOED. And we were generously supported by Cultuur Eindhoven, a cultural fund that partially financed the New order of Fashion LAB's tools and machinery.
National
We worked together with Amsterdam based 'Fashion For Good' (Museum and Foundation) who provided us with insights and who will partner with us for future similar endeavours and activations in Amsterdam and at activations and key summer festivals throughout the Netherlands. The GREEN WASH was also generously supported by the Bernhard Cultuurfonds, a national cultural (private) fund.
European
As a mix of Sweden and Netherlands based partners and an international crew of design talents, we looked beyond the Dutch borders and worked together with international partners. The Swedish embassy for instance and its representative (the Swedish Ambassador) attended The GREEN WASH and sponsored some of our activities. Other Swedish actors such as sustainable research centre Science Park Borås and The Swedish School of Textile's sustainable fashion professor Anna Lidström were and are involved with valuable and scholarly knowledge for the further establishment of The GREEN WASH. Through the international network of New Order of Fashion, we were lucky to be able to invite and work with talented makers and designers from academies from Finland, Belgium, Slovakia, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Germany.
There were four main actors in THE GREEN WASH:
1. Everything started with our collaboration with the team of our local sorting facility (HET GOED). Studio Hurra PangPang (having experience and a close relationship with their local sorting facilities in Gothenburg) as well as the New Order of Fashion team (having a close relationship with the local and regional team of HET GOED) worked closely together with HET GOED. The shared passion for giving discarded items a second (and most exciting) life was infectious and we all learned a lot in the weeks leading up to our event.
2. For the first time since industrialisation, the consumer was given an active role in the fashion making process again. They were made responsible for the sourcing and curating of the raw materials that went into their garment. Together with the designer, the customer co-designed their befitting fashion piece.
3. Our team of designers from New Order of Fashion were our entry point for the visitor and we trained them to be hosts and skilled interviewers as well as designers. Besides using their amazing design talents, they needed to educate and activate the visitors and - once interested in a purchase - be able to design for the specific taste of the consumer. The designers, all involved and committed, were open to this new supplement of their role and stepped up the plate.
4. Usually the most undervalued actor in the supply chain, the makers (seamstresses, tailors), were given a lead role and their skills were admired by all 23.000 visitors. Unlike in the fashion industry, where designers and makers can be situated on the other side of the globe, here they worked closely together to create fashion magic.
We strongly proven that to make a change and encourage sustainable choices by inviting, inspiring and including all sides of the problem towards a solution - Co designing a new way of valued consuming, together make the change instead of working in closed pipelines.
THE GREEN WASH created a blueprint and showcase for an alternative fashion system. We created a clear concept that positively inspired thousands of visitors and developed a training that gave a new generation of designers and makers a relevant and much needed skillset, material knowledge, community and network to jointly repair the disconnected fashion system.
Traditional mass-produced collections offer same color, material & shape. But what happens when remaking the surplus forces the design to be individual? It creates an increased value, personalized aesthetics & originality. An involved consumer increases their personal relationship with their wardrobe and thereby also in aspects such as environmental respect. Re-imagining a feasible solution within participation and highlighting a serious topic in a humorous and inviting environment. It is within human nature to adapt to change - especially when presented in an inviting and cheerful way. From the proud father who, together with his daughters, selected the ingredients and had our designers design a composite cheerful coat to alderman for Culture Saskia Lammers to Dutch Design Foundation's creative head Miriam van der Lubbe - they all dared to give clothing a special second or third life. They were all at the center of the design process and therefore became jointly responsible for and aware of their choices. Some customers brought in their own sources which we encouraged. When supporting life-cycle thinking, the sentimental value of a piece of garment can provide an act of storytelling. Adding the costumers own pieces to the design-recipes is thereby an even further act of proudness in material value and will extend value and garment-life.
THE GREEN WASH positively influenced 23.000 fashion consumers and reached top capacity of 50 orders - with a team of 5 in-training-sewists and tailors and 5 professional designers. Imagine what a high-skilled team can achieve in a permanent roll out of the concept!
Historically, there are certain crucial moments worldwide when it is possible to act and radically change the status quo. Philosopher and historian Gershom Scholem (1897-1982) referred to such turning points as 'Plastic Hour', a moment when a rigid existing social order becomes malleable for a while. A prolonged standstill gives way to movement and people dare to hope.
We live in such crucial times and The GREEN WASH showcases a hopeful collaboration and bridge between designers, makers and consumers as a counter movement to the current fast, wasteful, economically profitable and linear fashion system. A systemic change is urgent. As 80% of the environmental impact of a product is determined at the design stage, our concept focusses of creating impact here. And whilst upcycling and remaking is not new, The GREEN WASH illustrates an exemplary and strong concept that ties all parties and makes them equally responsible for the solution.
The consumer participation and education is key and to easily adapt within a new concept recognition of some sort is a necessity. The concept of customization and participation is an already known theme within the food industry. Restaurants provide a selections of ingredients to be picked and later finalized by the chef. With clear references to restaurant-experiences The GREEN WASH provides a menu and recipes ready to pick ingredients within and from - a recognizable concept but with new products.
When presenting surplus and unmarketable products back to the consumer to be used as raw material - good curation and shop interior is of the utmost importance. The GREEN WASH provided a cheerful, fresh and bright experience within the boutique decor. Compared to your local second hand shop the visual merchandise is vivid, inviting and speaks about fashion possibilities rather than cheap finds. Feelings such as belonging, possibilities and candy shop were visual throughout the color coordinated materials.
THE GREEN WASH road map invited the visitor to undergo a step by step experience:
1. The Harvest
Visitors were invited to harvest raw materials from the nicely curated surplus generated by todays over consumption. Visitors can pick according to suggestions made or could be adventurous and pick their own combinations. In both cases, uniquely placing the consumer at the center of and lead accountable for the sourcing of the raw materials that go into their designs.
2. Meet the Designer
Harvested pieces were presented to the designer whom together with the visitor sketched their new garment or fashion accessory. Prepayment was then done here according to our transparent payment manifesto called The SIX S’s:
1. SORTING - Collecting textile surplus local sorting facilities
2. SHIPPING - Using local recycling collaborators decreases the pollution of transport
3. STYLE - Designers time, skills and talent to reinvent the surpluses together with the consumer
4. SEWING - Producing new pieces, Sewers turn waste into treasure in-house for visitors to see
5. SUPPLY - Additional material needed or manipulation to link the raw materials together
6. SHOP - The shop you're in, housing the full production, everything between interiors function to machines needed.
3. The Sweat Shop
When happy with the result the pieces were sent into The SWEAT SHOP for production. At this visible atelier, our team of skilled sewers and tailors produce the custom pieces in full view to fully portray the labor and skills needed behind your new-from-old showpiece of fashion.
The over all methodology is easy and rational in its design. We provide hopeful solutions for overconsumption and present it in a new context. A stained suit? Give the stain a purpose for the aesthetics quality and the suit will shine like never before, celebrating the imperfection. A fault in the system can become a treasure with a change of view and a small yet well presented change of purpose.
Our 3 step road map, our 'recipes' as a repurpose for widely discarded garments as well as our 6 S's were well thought out, tested and perfected. It helps to educate and activate consumers to become active participants and advocates for circular fashion. These will be used as a blueprint for future projects. Our hands-on training and mentoring of designers and makers can and will also be used as a showcase for future projects to be successful.
The methodology of context-swapping or using former fashion pieces as raw material for new creations also forces the need for rational design. When the designer think of a rational "problem solving" in the process for production it opens up for resource effective solutions. Material and finishings are already there and when placing them within a new context or usage it reduces the labour needed in creating new-from-old fashion. The local harvest of an untapped resource, the goods of post consumer waste, are thereby a sufficient and an environmental friendly way of production. Using as little as possible to generate a big effect, all designed to tap into the fashion consumers need for adorning pieces - a method that easily can be transformed into other areas of surplus generated.
The GREEN WASH is a scalable and vivid concept to be explored further - geographically exactly where the customers generate their leftovers ready to be remade. A designated GREEN WASH should be present in all future stores - even for customers to bring their own pieces into the equation of ingredient A + ingredient B = fresh design.
The GREEN WASH is also a sufficient store of its own, with local sources to tap we see possible stores popping up all over. The GREEN WASH is more than just shopping, it offers an experience and the proud act of positive change and will therefore present something new and ever inviting to the average fashion consumer.
When presenting local production and harvest with face-to-face manufacturing to the market it will change the way we consume forever. The shift provides a ripple effect that will affect all stages of production. Working with these unwanted materials are changing the full production line, and skills needed. Production consist of sorting and distributing back to the community, manufacturing being local rather than reliant on export. Therewith creating a local eco-system and regenerative value chain.
Opening the use of these post-consumer waste streams, can be compared to local and locally produced organic food. The closer to the source, the less additives, the better and friendlier for the environment (Sjöholm, I. 2020). So instead of importing virgin produced materials from the other side of the world, the ’local harvest’ is challenging todays already implemented, deeply invested and exploited production chains. Here we must act as a common force to give workers new types of livelihood opportunities and skills with transparent, sustainable and ethical foundations.
Working with and from a local ecosystem is therefor forcing us all to be responsible for ones own surplus generated, and with that generate less left overs.
By redesign and rational reuse we can lower the environmental impact by 90% compared to virgin produced and contribute to a textile system that operates safe within the planetary boundaries. Only in Sweden we must take care of additional 75 thousand tonnes of post-consumer textile waste by 2025, which leads to extreme amounts of possible materials to harvest and local sources to tap. Thereby outputs for this material is needed, to present it back into the consumers hands - with as little of an ecological footprint as possible - human skill, labour and time - design our way out of this total mess - The GREEN WASH!!
