Globally responsible fashion

The Concert Hall Aarhus was the setting for the culmination of this year’s UNLEASH festival, as a part of the Aarhus 2017 programme. Here, 1.000 young talents from all over the world gathered along with leading scientists, companies and institutions with the purpose of creating new solutions for the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. BESTSELLER engaged in the goal to promote responsible consumption and production, which is highly prioritised in the global fashion company.

On a Monday in the end of august, some of the most talented young people in the world introduced new sustainable solutions. The UNLEASH festival culminated with 3 days in Aarhus, where investors and experts within the various fields took part in praising the smartest ideas at the final award show presented by BESTSELLER. “BESTSELLER sponsored the sustainable production and consumption, where 167 talents from all over the world worked intensively on creating solutions for some of the challenges we face in the fashion industry,” Communication Manager Jesper Stubkier explains. “In folk high schools around Denmark, the talents worked through an intense innovation process with assistance from consultants and selected experts, including from BESTSELLER. A particular focus was how to make it easier for consumers to choose more sustainable alternatives, when they buy new clothes.”

Ambitious solutions
BESTSELLER has, through the company’s 20by20 strategy, outlined 20 goals in sustainability, that will be met before year 2020. One of the goals is to make the majority of the company’s cotton come from more sustainable sources, just as the use of plastic bags is phased out during 2017. One of the three core values of the European Capital of Culture year is sustainability, and UNLEASH was supported by Aarhus 2017. At the UNLEASH festival, solutions for recycling clothing fibres were explored, Jesper Stubkier explains.

“The circular mindset characterised many solutions, and it matches well with the work we now face in BESTSELLER as a strategic partner in Global Fashion Agenda, which has a mission of making the fashion industry more sustainable.” BESTSELLER has among other initiatives, launched the new sustainable collection called AWARE by VERO MODA. The collection is designed from four environmental friendly materials, that reduce the consumption of resources in the production. The collection features polyester t-shirts produced from recycled plastic. To create one polyester t-shirt, two plastic bottles are recycled. Several ambitious solutions were developed through the UNLEASH festival, Jesper Stubkier continues: “The winner in our theme created an alternative solution for pallet-packing – a method that normally creates a lot of waste and thereby pollution related to packaging foil. This project also won the award for ‘Most Impact Potential’. The runner-up centred around an online portal, that matches ‘green’ textile suppliers with clothing manufacturers, that wants to create more sustainable products.”

In addition to the specific solutions, BESTSELLER and the participants also gained a great experience, Jesper Stubkier adds: “It was an overwhelming and fantastic experience to witness how 1.000 talented young people from the whole world through UNLEASH found a unique sense of community in making the world a better place. We all gained incredibly from participating, sponsors and our own participating talents and experts alike. We are very proud be a part of this community and to have contributed in making a very ambitious project possible”.

Facts:

// The three core values of Aarhus 2017 European Capital of Culture is democracy, sustainability and diversity. In a series of articles, partners in Aarhus 2017 tell about their sustainable initiatives in relation to both environment and society.

// On 10. September, the 3rd debate in the series of Hypothetical-events takes place. The moderator is journalist Clement Kjersgaard, and the debate will revolve around the future of sustainable development. Participating in the panel is former European Commissioner, Connie Hedegaard, and senior researcher at the Danish meteorological Institute (DMI) and many more. Read more here.

// Read more about UNLEASH here and BESTSELLERs sustainability initiatives here.