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Amsterdam 'fashion library' takes aim at clothes waste

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Julie Capelle, Agence France-Presse

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C562.623,77.658 564.297,76.634 565.965,74.965 C567.633,73.296 568.659,71.625 569.425,69.651 C570.167,67.743 570.674,65.562 570.82,62.369 C570.966,59.17 571,58.147 571,50 C571,41.851 570.966,40.831 570.82,37.631"></path></g></g></g></svg></a></div><div style="padding-top:8px"><div style="color:#3897f0;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-weight:550;line-height:18px"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cw-en-uoTRP/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" style="background:#FFFFFF;line-height:0;padding:0 0;text-align:center;text-decoration:none;width:100%" target="_blank">View this post on Instagram</a></div></div><div style="padding:12.5% 0"> </div><div style="display:flex;flex-direction:row;margin-bottom:14px;align-items:center"><div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:50%;height:12.5px;width:12.5px;transform:translateX(0px) translateY(7px)"> </div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;height:12.5px;transform:rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px);width:12.5px;flex-grow:0;margin-right:14px;margin-left:2px"> </div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:50%;height:12.5px;width:12.5px;transform:translateX(9px) translateY(-18px)"> </div></div><div style="margin-left:8px"><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:50%;flex-grow:0;height:20px;width:20px"> </div><div style="width:0;height:0;border-top:2px solid transparent;border-left:6px solid #f4f4f4;border-bottom:2px solid transparent;transform:translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg)"> </div></div><div style="margin-left:auto"><div style="width:0px;border-top:8px solid #F4F4F4;border-right:8px solid transparent;transform:translateY(16px)"> </div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;flex-grow:0;height:12px;width:16px;transform:translateY(-4px)"> </div><div style="width:0;height:0;border-top:8px solid #F4F4F4;border-left:8px solid transparent;transform:translateY(-4px) translateX(8px)"> </div></div></div><div style="display:flex;flex-direction:column;flex-grow:1;justify-content:center;margin-bottom:24px"><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:4px;flex-grow:0;height:14px;margin-bottom:6px;width:224px"> </div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:4px;flex-grow:0;height:14px;width:144px"> </div></div><div style="color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:17px;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:8px;overflow:hidden;padding:8px 0 7px;text-align:center;text-overflow:ellipsis;white-space:nowrap"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cw-en-uoTRP/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" style="color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;line-height:17px;text-decoration:none" target="_blank">A post shared by LENA - The fashion library (@lena_library)</a></div></div></blockquote><div><script async="" src="https://www.instagram.com/embed.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div><p><br/>AMSTERDAM -- Ikram Cakir hands over a multi-colored blue and white blouse and selects a similar item, this time in hot pink. Welcome to Amsterdam&#x27;s &quot;fashion library.&quot;</p><p>Billed as one of the world&#x27;s only physical centers for renting used and new clothing, the &#x27;big shared wardrobe&#x27; in the Dutch capital is a response to clothes waste and fashion industry pollution.</p><p>Hundreds of brightly colored trousers, coats and overalls are sorted by brand or style, each with a tag indicating a sale price or how much it costs to rent the item per day.</p><p>The daily rental price varies from around 50 euro cents ($0.55) to a couple of euros, depending on the customer&#x27;s loyalty -- how often he or she rents clothes and how many are borrowed.</p><p>For Cakir, a 37-year-old NGO campaign manager, the concept is &quot;just really good.&quot;</p><p>&quot;So many clothes are bought and then never used,&quot; she told AFP.</p><p>&quot;This is an excellent way to wear new clothes without depleting the planet,&quot; added Cakir.</p><p>Globally, the equivalent of a truckload of clothes is burnt or buried in landfills every second, according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, a charity focused on eliminating waste and pollution.</p><p>The textile industry is also a major polluter, causing between two and eight percent of global carbon emissions, according to the United Nations in 2022.</p><p>In the era of fast fashion, the average person buys 60 percent more clothing than 15 years ago, while each item is kept for only half as long, the UN says.</p><p>Fashion is responsible for one quarter of the pollution of the world&#x27;s waters and a third of microplastic discharges into the oceans -- toxic substances for fish and humans.</p><p>All this prompted Elisa Jansen to open &quot;LENA, the fashion library&quot; in a trendy area in central Amsterdam, with her two sisters and a friend.</p><p>&quot;Why did we open in 2014? Because the fashion industry is one of the most polluting industries in the world,&quot; she told AFP.</p><div><strong>&#x27;Try before you buy&#x27; </strong></div><p>The library also has an online section, plus drop-off and collection points in other Dutch cities.</p><p>&quot;Always new clothes. Good for the planet. Experiment with your style. Try before you buy,&quot; reads a poster hanging above LENA&#x27;s counter and washing machines, summing up its philosophy.</p><p>Jansen&#x27;s career began in vintage shops so she said she has &quot;always worked in recycling clothes.&quot;</p><p>But the vintage business did not allow her to acquire new items and she found it too homogenous a style.</p><p>&quot;That&#x27;s when I got the idea of sharing clothes in a massive shared wardrobe,&quot; she said.</p><p>Customers sign up for a 10-euro fee, allowing them to borrow or buy clothes from the collection.</p><p>There are more than 6,000 members but not everyone is a regular borrower, admits Jansen.</p><p>Her top priority is the quality of her garments, always preferring longer-lasting brands.</p><p>&quot;You won&#x27;t find any fast fashion here,&quot; she said, referring to a trend where garments are bought cheaply then discarded after only a few wears.</p><p>LENA was &quot;really one of the first of its kind&quot; when it opened nine years ago, said Jansen.</p><p>Similar initiatives have been launched in places such as Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Scandinavia and Switzerland, although Jansen said the Scandinavian outlets appeared to have closed since.</p><p>It took some time to find a profitable business model, she admits.</p><p>But her location in a trendy area now mostly attracts women aged between 25 and 45 &quot;who want to make sustainable choices but who also want pretty clothes.&quot;</p><p>India Donisi, a 35-year-old wine blogger, is the target audience.</p><p>&quot;It&#x27;s really very convenient,&quot; she said as she tried on what she called an &quot;extravagant&quot; fuchsia pink blazer.</p><p>Donisi regularly rents clothes from the library to wear for media events but she lives around the corner and admits she wouldn&#x27;t cross town to borrow an outfit.</p><p>Jansen hopes her initiative will inspire others.</p><p>&quot;I really believe this is the future. Our consumption cannot continue as it is,&quot; she said.</p><p>&quot;I hope other clothing brands will even do it themselves ... so you always have the option to borrow if you don&#x27;t want to buy.&quot;</p><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div>

Billed as one of the world's only physical centers for renting used and new clothing, the 'big shared wardrobe' in the Dutch capital is a response to clothes waste and fashion industry pollution.

Amsterdam 'fashion library' takes aim at clothes waste

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Amsterdam 'fashion library' takes aim at clothes waste

Julie Capelle,

Agence France-Presse

Published January 10, 2024 11:41 AM PHT

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LENA

fashion library

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