The project: Progetto Quid & Amorilla
Camilla Mendini e Anna Fiscale
April 24 is the day we commemorate the Rana Plaza tragedy.
On April 24, 2013, an eight-story building in Bangladesh, home to five textile factories that sewed clothes for Western fashion system companies, collapsed. More than 1,000 people lost their lives, while 2,500 suffered physical mutilations that no longer allow them to work and lead peaceful lives.
Bangladeshi photographer Ismail Ferdous has produced a photographic reportage that describes the tragedy. From this tragic event, however, stories of hope also emerge.
That day has become the symbol of how high the human and environmental cost of fast fashion can be, which, conversely, translates into very low selling prices.
The textile sector is one of the most polluting. Contrary to what one might think, it is not only the disposal of clothes that is the polluting factor. The environmental impact starts upstream of the production process, with a consumption of trillions of water per year just for the dyeing of fabrics. Water that then, with harmful chemicals inside, is illegally dumped into nature and enters the food cycle because the purification costs are too high. Even the fabric itself, if it is not natural, can be polluting in the washing phase. An alternative to all this would be to return to natural dyes, but by their nature, they cannot be applied on a large scale, as well as the use of natural or certified fabrics. For other practical solutions, we invite you to listen to the advice of our two heroes.
Fashion Revolution Week, as every year, on April 24 launches the #WhoMadeMyClothes contest addressing the question to manufacturers, who should answer with #IMadeYourClothes giving a signal of transparency. Anyone can join the initiative, just take a picture with a garment worn backwards highlighting the label and tag the brand.
We wanted to help create more awareness on the issue of sustainable fashion, interviewing two Heroes: Anna Fiscale and Camilla Mendini.
Anna is the founder and president of Quid, a social enterprise that offers a safe job opportunity to vulnerable people, especially women, who have struggled and overcome difficult situations on a personal or social level (victims of violence or trafficking, people with disabilities or who have struggled with alcoholism or drugs, ex-convicts and migrants seeking asylum or new opportunities in Italy). Progetto Quid is the ethical and sustainable fashion brand of the social enterprise Quid, which creates limited edition clothing and accessories: the collections come to life from surplus fabrics made available by the most prestigious fashion and textile companies, material that would otherwise be disposed of as waste.
Camilla, on the other hand, was born as a designer and content creator, dedicating herself more and more to sustainable fashion and becoming a point of reference for the Instagram community, where you can find her as @carotilla_. Every day, in fact, through her stories, posts and videos on Youtube she advises how to approach sustainable fashion, and a sustainable lifestyle, through practical advice and small gestures that can make a difference. In her Youtube channel you can find many videos that recommend ethical and sustainable brands, for any item of clothing. Camilla is also founder and designer of Amorilla, an ethical and sustainable brand of which she tells us more in the interview.
For those who would like to learn more about sustainable fashion, we give some advice below.
FILM
- The True Cost
LIBRI
- This is a Good Guide — for a Sustainable Lifestyle, Marieke Eyskoot
- No logo, Naomi Klein
- Slave to fashion, Safia Minney
- Fashionopolis, Dana Thomas
- To die for: is fashion wearing out the world?, Lucy Siegle
- Siete pazzi a indossarlo! Perché la moda a basso costo avvelena noi e il pianeta, Elizabeth Cline