The fast fashion industry is not what it seems. Behind its allure lies a wasteful industry, driven by excessive clothes consumption. The fast-fashion phenomenon has also led to an increase in textile waste production globally and continues to be one of the key drivers of the issue. Additionally, as a nation that continues to grow in affluence, Singaporeans have cultivated a strong throwaway culture that has become more prominent due to our higher disposable incomes. Only 6% of the total textile waste is being recycled in Singapore, which is the second-lowest recycling rate after plastic.
The Good in Fashion (TGIF) is a sustainable fashion campaign that seeks to transform young Singaporeans’ behaviour when it comes to fashion and the clothes they wear. The campaign encourages people to prolong the lifespan of their clothes through 4 ways: swapping, buying secondhand, donating and reselling. This can minimise waste sent to landfills and helps slow down the devastating impacts of fast fashion.
The team asked some people on what the term “fashion goals” meant to them. Watch the video below to find out.
The Highlights
TGIF led a variety of online and offline activations such as thrift stores, educational roving booths, a closed-door influencer swapping party, and an online satire fashion collection. Key elements of the campaign included:
Through the thrift stores held on campus, TGIF was able to save more than 400 pieces of clothes amounting to more than 100kg from going to the landfill. Instead, these clothes were sent to clothes swapping Swapaholic, who shared similar goals with TGIF. The funds raised were also donated to WWF Australia, to help with the bushfire crisis.
TGIF also joined up with Swapaholic and fashion rental brand Rentadella for a closed-door influencer swapping event, #WakeUpAndSwap, on January 18. Attended by 15 well-known fashion influencers, including Ming Bridges and Munah Bagharib, the team was involved with the opening segment where they set a casual, fun atmosphere through a fast fashion trivia session that helped to educate influencers on the negative impacts of fast fashion and encourage them to adopt sustainable fashion behaviour.
Watch the highlights of the #WakeUpAndSwap event below.
The campaign’s efforts culminated in an online satire collection Thread Lightly, released on 24 February to replace an initial two-day exhibition that was cancelled due to COVID-19 concerns. Mimicking the look of fashion e-commerce sites, visitors were not met with clothes but instead with facts on the negative impacts of fast fashion and ways to adopt sustainable fashion options, written with tongue-in-cheek humour. Visitors could interact with the page and discover the educational information throughout the site. The collection garnered close to a thousand visitors in its launch period and was featured on The Straits Times.
The Memories
Reflection #1 – The Challenges
Lower reception towards high barrier sustainable fashion behaviours.
Despite the effort put in to promote the different sustainable fashion behaviours, there seemed to be lower receptivity towards the higher-barrier behaviours like swapping. When a pop-up booth was set up to promote clothes swapping event amongst university students, many had reservations as it was behaviour not carried out before.
Putting together a thrift store overnight.
Event promotion for the offline activities had limited reach as efforts were prioritised on online channels to inform as much of the target audience as possible in a short period. The team also had to overcome logistical challenges such as sourcing for clothing racks while curating a collection of unique pieces for all genders overnight.
Pivoting when DORSCON Orange was announced.
The campaign had planned for a physical exhibition at DBS Plaza Singapura but was forced to cancel it when DORSCON Orange measures were announced. The team had to brainstorm quickly for an alternative way to engage people virtually, which led to the online satire collection Thread Lightly, mimicking fast fashion sites to draw visitors into learning more about sustainable fashion.
Reflection #2 – The Takeaways
Despite the obstacles faced, TGIF has been successful in reaching out to many individuals on the topic of sustainable fashion. The team reflected that they had the chance to see first-hand the meaningful change they effected during the campaign.
In particular, TGIF was heartened to hear that many members of their target audience shared they would be more mindful when consuming fashion in the future. The post-campaign survey results also showed a significant increase in awareness on the topic of sustainable fashion amongst TGIF’s target audience.
Leave a Reply