Ireland launches first-ever official sustainable fashion campaign
Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communication, Ossian Symth, announced the ‘Reverse the Trend’ campaign yesterday morning to mark World Circular Textiles Day.
The campaign is Ireland’s first official sustainable fashion campaign and aims to make people think about fast fashion and its environmental impact. ‘Reverse the Trend’ is asking people to ‘Buy Less, Re-wear, Share’.
The campaign is being used to highlight alternatives to frequent clothes purchasing and giving people information on different ways to shop.
“We want to raise awareness about the impact that our buying habits have on the environment and why we need to change our current take-make-waste approach,” said Minister Smyth, at the launch of the campaign.
World Circular Textiles Day is a day that raises awareness for the circularity of textiles and the renewal of old clothes.
It gives people with a passion for upcycling an opportunity to share their stories and inspire others. Textiles and clothing have the fourth highest impact on climate change, following food, housing and transport, with the fashion industry responsible for 10% of all global carbon emissions.
“Ireland has one of the highest rates of new textiles consumption in the EU, at 53 kg per person every year,” Minister Smyth added. “[We need to think] about what we really need, whether we can rewear, share or repair in our collective efforts to reverse the trend.”
World Circular Textiles Day and the ‘Reverse the Trend’ campaign hope to shine a light on this issue and encourage people to explore renewing old styles.
There are many charity and vintage shops across Limerick City.
Irish Cancer Society, NCBI, and SueRyder Shop are all based on Upper William Street, with Oxfam close by on William Street.
Limerick Animal Welfare has a shop on Parnell Street, on Thomas Street there is a St Vincent de Paul charity shop and Adapt Shop is based at Sarsfield Street.
Whack Vintage has vintage clothes and also restyle older pieces. They have a shop in the Milk Market in Limerick City and then a pop-up in the Crescent Shopping Centre. The Edge Clothing and Vito Vintage are also both in Limerick City Centre.