zerowaster lives and breathes circular fashion. As our name suggests, zerowaste is our motto. We encourage our community to never think of clothing as disposable, and to instead, see it as a part of a circular system. What others see as waste, we see as a starting point.
We collect fast fashion waste, upcycle them into brand new and unique fashion items to be rented by the community. Why buy clothing just to throw them away, if you can rent, return and repeat?
Local
Germany
Berlin, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Frankfurt
Mainly urban
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
As an individual in partnership with other persons
First name: Le Hai Nhu Last name: Pham Gender: Female Age: 28 Please attach a copy of your national ID/residence card:
By ticking this box, I certify that the information regarding my age is factually correct. : Yes Nationality: Vietnam Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Richardstraße 45 Town: Düsseldorf Postal code: 40231 Country: Germany Direct Tel:+49 172 5286516 E-mail:sp.201294@gmail.com
First name: Van Hieu Last name: Bui Gender: Male Age: 28 Please attach a copy of your national ID/residence card:
By ticking this box, I certify that the information regarding my age is factually correct. : Yes Nationality: Vietnam Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Mühsamstrasße 62 Town: Berlin Postal code: 10249 Country: Germany Direct Tel:+49 1577 3473258 E-mail:hieuauguste@gmail.com
zerowaster is a concept that make fast fashion … less fast, by targeting the fast fashion waste and repurposing them into new garments via an ethical and transparent upcycling process. We want to reduce the amount of fast fashion waste ended up in landfills, and prevent waste within our ecosystem.
We do this by collecting fast fashion waste through donation by the local community, via zerowaster online and offline platforms. These wastes will be processed, categorized, deconstructed, repurposed and redesigned at zerowaste Upcycling center.
By deconstructing and transforming the waste (so called ‘Upcycling’ process), we repurpose the textiles and fabrics that would have been deemed waste and give them another lifespan
By renting the garments out to the community, we make sure all of our products will be reused/ upcycled, and not end up in landfills or consumers’ closet corner
In order to do that, we rely on the 3 fundamental elements in our circular system to deliver our vision accross
Fast fashion
Upcycle
Zero waste
Rental fashion
Sustainable fashion
Zerowaster aims to reduce the amount of natural resources needed to produce new clothing, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The fast fashion industry is not only using massive quantities of energy, chemicals, and water, but also accountable for polluted rivers, landfill pollution and 10% of total global carbon emissions. Zerowaster’s upclycing program embraces the process of collecting textile waste and repurposing them into new fashion items. Zerowaster takes production in a much smaller scale than the fast fashion industry due to the nature of our Upycling center, where our garment workers and designers treat upcycled items with care and personal touch.
Zerowaster hopes to reduce fast fashion wastes ended up in landfills. In Germany, there are old clothing containers set up so that local citizens can donate their unwanted clothing. However, oftentimes, these containers are overfilled and those that are not in the containers will most likely end up in landfills. The public are mostly unaware of how the 'donated' items are recycled. Moreover, to send away their donated items, citizens need to go to certain donation spots in the city. As donation takes effort and time, and with little knowledge of how donated items are processed, people feel less incentivized to donate. Zerowaster solves this problem via a transparent and no-effort donation method. We showcase a clear reason to donate: to give fashion waste a second life in a brand new form. This creates the excitement among the donors to see how their wastes are transformed, and also ensures the community that their donated fashion waste will be put into good use, which will create stronger incentives for people to donate, and not throw their fashion waste away. Moreover, via a renting program, instead of buying, zerowaster makes sure that all upcycled items will be returned to upcycling center to be reused and repurposed. We encourage our community to never think of any piece of clothing as disposable.
Zerowaster aims to provide a sense of belonging and acceptance within the vulnerable female groups in the local region. These women can be unemployed individuals, women who used to be in detention and prison, victims of violence, abuse and exploitation, refugees, etc. Zerowaster upcycling center hopes to become a safe place where they can be vulnerable, share their stories, get inspired, and learn new skills to hopefully be the foundation for their future. They will be taught everything about working with garments, fabrics and designing by experienced garment workers and local designers. As zerowaster’s items are not mass produced, they can contribute as much as they want to creatively in the process of making one unique piece of clothing.
Zerowaster aims to become an inspiring hub for the sustainable fashion enthusiasts in the local region to inspired, get inspired and take actions. The upcycling center is also the venue for the monthly zerowaster events, where local sustainable fashion enthusiasts can participate to donate their fashion wastes, rent upcycled items and meet up with like-minded people. Zerowaster hopes to create an open and creative environment where the community can share their stories and share how they would like to inspire and take part in sustainable fashion.
The fast fashion industry is often criticised for their unethical labour practices. Some of the most famous and profitable brands are exploiting on vulnerable communities in the developing countries such as Vietnam, Bangladesh, India, where garment workers, oftentimes, underaged, have to work overtime in bad infrastructure conditions, whilst being severely underpaid. Therefore, one of zerowaster's main objectives is to become a safe and ethical working environment for the women of vulnerable community. We want to be the trustworthy name that the agency for employment in Germany and other humanitarian organisations feel confident to refer to the women of vulnerable community to work with us at our upclycing center. By working with local agency of employment (Arbeitsamt) directly from the beginning of the project, zerowaster aims to really target those who are motivated to be useful for society and who are in need of a stable, inspiring and meaningful job.
The upcycling event is open for everyone with free entrance. People can come with donated clothes, their vision of how their fashion waste can be transformed and discuss them freely with zerowaster garment workers.
The reason fast fashion is popular is because they are affordable, even for those who are in low budget. Zerowaster hopes to create collections of upcycled fashion that is unique and affordable, so that even for the people who are in low budget can still be able to afford to rent and show their unique tastes, whilst not compromising sustainability.
Any citizens can become zerowaster consumers. Via zerowaster app and monthly event, they can donate and rent fashion items with ease and low effort. This enables them to refresh their wardrobe often by cleaning up old clothes via donation, and bringing unique and fresh vibes to their closets via renting upcycled items. Renting also helps people save more mone on new clothes and actively take part in the sustainability movement. Every month in the zerowaster event, citizens can have the direct opportunities to contribute to the creative process of repurposing and redesigning their own waste.
Zerowaster garment workers are the main force of the upcycling center, with the essential workers being women of vulnerable communities that zerowaster recruits via the help of local agency for employment and humanitarian non-profit organisations. At zerowaster upcycling center, they are provided a practical education in fashion, from sewing, creating garments to designing. These skills will be directly applied to their daily work at the center by deconstructing textile wastes and reconstructing to them into brand new garments. They will be ensured with a safe and ethical working environemt, and fair wages.
Zerowaster partners are freelancers who work with us to carry out jobs such as organiszing events, delivery and pick-up. They can be local students who are in need of part-time jobs, or anyone in the local city who is passionate to be a part of our circular system.
Moreover, zerowaster project also involves indivduals and organisations who are passionate about sustainable, ethical and meaning fashion, such as: local designers or artists, humanitarian NGOs, experience seamtresses and garment workers. These are people who provide us with expertise on the subject. In return, zerowaster offers them a liberal environment where they can showcase their passion, talents and knowledge unpoetically.
In the local and regional level, zerowaster works with local and regional agency for employment and humanitarian non-profit organisations to generate and provide jobs for unemployed women of the vulnerable communities. In order to design and set up the upcycling center, we also work closely with local government, authorities and architects to ensure safety condition for garment workers. To support local and regional economy, we scout for equipments from the nearby suppliers who can be partner with us in a longtime and also support the cause of sustainable fashion.
The local and regional consumers are the core of our program as without their engagement, there will be no donated fashion waste and no upcycled items, which means no circular system that zerowaster aims to commit to. In order to have the first-hand materials for our very first collection, zerowasters require the support and donation from the local and regional consumers, especially the university and college students where our soft launch targets, to donate their fashion waste.
Nationally, zerowaster hopes to gain national reputation via news media and word-of-mouth. We aim to reach out to different media outlet to promote our concept and our vision to a wider audience. This will help for the expansion of zerowaster into other regions in Germany.
The design and development of zerowaster involves different depth knowledge in various areas, from fashion, to event organisation and tech development.
In order to build an upcycling center with the designed purposes, a team of experienced seamstresses and designers is needed to guide and teach the essential skills to the newly recruited garment workers. These skills involve dealing with textiles and fabric, how to handle used fashion items, sewing and garment making in the most sustainable ways that are able to minimize thrown away fabric during cutting process, and fashion design.
As the zerowaster app is the main platform for the sustainable fashion enthusiasts to connect with zerowaster's upcycled collections directly via donation and renting, the know-hows of building an app, including app developer, UI/UX designer, copy writers, are essential. A team of photographers and models is also needed to visualise the products for listings. As zerowaster is about a free and creative community for any sustainable fashion enthusiasts, we are welcome anyone with those skill sets to collaborate with us, regardless of their professional experience.
Zerowaster promotes renting instead of buying, meaning the items will always have to be returned, which will cause minimal clothing waste. Not only that, we propose a more convinient and transparent dontation method where people can choose whereever and whenever they want to donate. This will reduce the effort and time that they need to spend on donation, but also provide them with a clear understanding of how their donated fashion waste will be processed. Zerowaster vows to make clothing donation simpler for our citizens through a few simple clicks.
Zerowaster creates a complete circular system around sustainable fashion, by not only collecting fashion waste and giving them a 2nd, 3rd and 4th life, but also ensuring our production process is ethical, transparent, educational and creative. We aim to create jobs for women from vulnerable communities via an upcycling program and eventually engage them in the creative process of upcycling a fashion item.
The technology (the Zeromaster app) behind this project is completely free to use, available on Appstore & Playstore.
The application or the project model can be easily applied to different cities where fast fashion is common. For this, we only need a growing community of people with interest in sustainability to make good use of the application.
Zerowaster aims to tackle fast fashion industry biggest problems: waste and labor exploitation.
Fast fashion has been a trend for quite a long time. Younger generations nowadays know nothing but fast fashion because it is the most convenient, cheapest and fastest way to get some of the trendiest outfits. Due to the everchanging nature of fashion trends, fast fashion items endure a very short product lifespan. They are normally thrown away to landfills, or sit in the owners’ closets for years and years. Zerowaster doesn’t aim to end fast fashion or change the whole industry in a blink. We aim to reduce the harm of fast fashion waste to the environment by targeting the fast fashion waste itself: We collect the waste and inject them into our circular system to create upcycled fashion items that the community enjoy to wear. By collecting the waste to deconstruct them, zerowaster also minimises the natural resources wasted to produce whole new fabric or materials for new clothing.
As they need to mass produce to meet the population's demand, many of the biggest fast fashion brands oftentimes reach out in developing countries as their main labour factory as their labour is cheap and always available. To cut cost further, they recruit underaged workers, compromise on safety conditions and cut wages. Even though zerowaster cannot address this issue directly, we aim to provocate for a safe and ethical working environment within fashion industry where the garment workers are taken care of, well paid and actually enjoy the work.
