While fashion is a form of expression, the fashion industry is the second most polluting on the planet, responsible for 10% of CO2 emissions. The production of this industry, which generates 4% of the global economy and 2.5% of the Spanish economy, has become unsustainable for the planet.
These rock-bottom prices, with which major brands compete, hide an environmental and labor exploitation cost that people on the other side of the world are paying. There are countries whose laws allow child exploitation, unhealthy and dangerous working conditions, and starvation wages.
The term "Fast Fashion" refers to unscrupulous forms of production that seek to compete with low prices and disposable products that must be consumed and replaced at a frantic and irresponsible pace.
From some people's disappointment with Fast Fashion, Slow Fashion is born, seeking different ways of doing things. It's about creating clothes that last over time and that you can wear on many occasions.
We must consider what lies behind what we buy: people's working conditions, the materials chosen, the destination of waste, everything...
For example, producing a pair of jeans requires 8,000 liters of water, and cotton requires a lot of water before it's harvested. In addition, we must also consider the water contaminated during dyeing. Furthermore, the fashion industry generates 35% of the polyester fibers that end up in our oceans as microplastics. Therefore, the most sustainable option would be to not consume (REDUCE) and transform the necessary consumption into something more sustainable.
Plácido Alonso then tells the origins of Pisaverde:
- Pisaverde was born from a decision to "attack the system," to combat these bad practices by changing the way we do things with great creativity, in an artistic way because we are artisans. We also aim to send a message of conservation; that many things can be done differently, but we have to take it seriously.
- We've always used what others discard: leathers that the industry no longer wants, which we give a second life to at Pisaverde. We transform them, even painting them by hand.
- With tire soles, another industrial waste product we use for many of our designs, we're innovating and researching to be able to use them in our high-heeled shoes, and we're already achieving our goal.
- Since the lockdown, we've developed and incorporated another idea: Banana Fiber. Using the fiber we extract from banana stems (another material typically discarded by the industry), we've created a handcrafted textile. The production of this textile is very laborious, but the result is well worth it.
- Thus, with all these ideas, intentions, details, and effort, we create our products. Pisaverde invites you to conserve the environment; to make your footprint green; to consume as little as possible and responsibly: without exploitation and conserving as much as possible.
We've already surpassed the limits of what the planet can endure, and we're still there...
We produce twice as much clothing as we did 20 years ago and consume it in half the time. In general, we consume massively: much more than we need (Fast Fashion), although some consumers are starting to look for something else: more a style than a fleeting trend, more a good piece of clothing to wear every week. Some no longer want Fast Fashion, but Slow Fashion, which is more responsible and sustainable.
Steps are being taken with labeling information on energy consumption, emissions, etc. But to be honest, much of it is just appearance (greenwashing: a deception) and not a reflection of real change.
Currently, each person buys about 30 kilos of clothing a year, and of this amount, they throw away about 14 kilos. Of these, it's estimated that about 10 kilos end up in landfills. In other words, we have a linear production model in which almost everything ends up in landfills. We need real and profound change from the design perspective: the conception of the product. We need a more circular model that considers repair, reuse, and recycling—giving a second chance to materials already created—instead of continuing to fill the landfill.
The public needs to be re-educated about the implications of the price difference, although changes are already being noticed in sectors of the population who seek products "with soul": produced calmly, with care, and with love.
0 comments