Green Fashion Week
Green Fashion Week
List the environmental problem(s), issue(s), need or opportunity you wish to address. Barbados is a small island developing state(SID)with a big determination to convert to 100% renewable energy by 2030. There is still a disconnect between social references of the daily life of Barbadians, such as; Corp Over and other cultural activities and programmes that lead to greater advocacy on greenhouse gas mitigation. There is a need for a social-cultural event whose novelty galvanizes attention on environmental concerns or, an existing social-cultural event that is not novel and is sufficiently culturally popular to already have an established audience which is then modified to include an environmental message. Although there is sensitivity to the environmental issues such as Climate Change there is yet to be any mainstreaming of environmental issues into Barbados? socio-cultural activities such as had been done for Jazz through the Barbados Jazz festival, Horse riding through the ?Gold Cup? or even the support of local food and alcohol thought the Food and Rum festival. Generally, Barbadians have a propensity to be fashionable, but the fashion sense is not selectively environmentally sensitive since there are not iconic or nationally acclaimed environmental fashion stores or programmes. At the same time, the efforts to develop environmentally sensitive fashion seems to be continually at the first level with little or no national recognition or iconic efforts. The imports of clothing and other fashion items nevertheless impact on the landfills and environment without much policy or policing beyond the materials which are obviously of immediate negative impact. This particular proposal looks at the highly popular and significant interest that Barbadians have in personal and professional wear. In addition, the fashion in Barbados is traditional in areas where the dress codes sometimes augurwell for colder climates and often requires Barbadians to focus on energy using air-conditioned work environments where suites, ties and other traditional wear are appropriate. Aneasy example is the hats worn by police which are black and attract heat more than possible lighter colours. Yet, the purchasing and wearing of clothes that is so important to our daily lives have never had any specific emphasis on environmental consciousness or more importantly, environmental sustainability. Everyday, every month people are drawn to purchase clothes out of necessity and pleasure. A review of the clothing stores in Barbados has revealed that very few of the clothes and accessories available are made from sustainable fabric or materials. In addition, there were few examples of significant sales of clothing and accessories made from recycled materials.

Describe in as much detail as you can the causes for the environmental problem (s), issue (s), need (s), opportunity you have identified? (You may use photographs or illustrations to make your description clearer).This opportunity speaks to the very popular experiences of ?Fashion Weeks? throughout the Caribbean where the attention of tens of thousands of people are riveted. It looks at positioning within the sector of popular fashion the concept of environmental fashion, presented within a package of what isnow titled ?Green Fashion Week? It is believed that all of the typical attention that is gathered by a fashion week will render itself to another fashion week with a green emphasis.Barbadiansas a wholeare driven by pre-existing popular social context events and cultural themes. There is a catch-22 nexus, where in order to make green social events popular we need to have large amount of support, but in order to have large amounts of support the events have to be made popular. The solution offered hereis not to make a new green event popular but to make a popular event green. Our association cannot make an event as large as Crop over ?Green?, but we will take a relatively popular eventssuch as a Fashion shows and fashion weeks andmake that event a ?Green? fashion week. The Green Fashion Week will have the following for green fashion themes:A. Naturally Green: Fashion made from green material: ?Clothing and jewelry. ?Clothes that use non-synthetic dyes. ?Clothing that are hand woven that do not require climate changing electricity.? Clothing whose disposal will not negatively impact the environment. ?Dresses made from hand woven materials, using natural threads? Jewelry made from stones, whose production and mining practices do not impact the environment .?Materials that are colored using natural dyes, such as indigo used by early inhabitants of the twin island state.B.Re-Greened: There are many materials that we use though destined to impact negatively on the earth through their disposal can actually be recycled and repurposed for fashion clothing and/or accessories. Ends cut from cloth in garment factories which can be sewn together to produce additional garments, ends of leather from shoe production which can be used as craft or accessories. Shoes can also be made from discarded used car tyres.
Revised: October 2015Page 7of 14UN House, Marine Gardens, Hastings, Christ Church, Barbados. Tel: (246) 467-6000 Fax: (246) 429-2448 Internet: http://sgp.undp.orgC.Green Heroes & Heroines: Honoring the men and women who have championed environmental protection. The Green heroesand heroines arepersons in Barbados working inenvironmental organizations or are environmental officers in public and private companies, NGOs,international organizationsor self-employed persons.Rather than a physical award that adds to the landfill, the awards presented will be environmentally benign (biodegradable and leaving only an e memory).D.Generation Green:The next generation will inherit the earth. We begin the process in passing on the knowledge of climate change and environmental protection to them at an early and youthful stage through an experience and practice in green fashion and conservation. They will wear the fashion but also have a final decision of deciding which of the fashion wear represents their own taste for their own future. These youth models will be drawn predominately from disadvantaged communities. More explicitly, the fashion creations will be a collaboration between the youth and designers .E. Green Gala: The gala is the culminating event where rather than watching, the audience are themselves the exponents of green fashion and attend the reception type event in their own selection of green. This gives an opportunity for those who already have green fashion items to put their personal green taste on show and also allows for purchases from one of the fashion designers or trainee designers. The entrance fee and the fund generated from auctioned fashion items will be used in the below mentioned green fashion training. F. Green Transformations: There are green fashion and accessories which as part of the new multi-tasking multi using lifestyle will have more than one use. A fashionable cap which is green but also has a solar panel that charges a cell phone. Solar bags, solar glasses, solar dresses have all been launched in different parts of the world. In addition, there are color changing T-shirts. Heat changing hair color (VIVIDS MOOD COLOR), Clothes that monitor air pollution (Aerochromics), beads for necklaces and bracelets that change color in sunlight, breathable clothes that keep you cool in hot climate or even air-conditioned clothing (Kuchou-fuku trans: air-conditioned clothes)Green Training: During the planning for the fashion week there will be a parallel program where unemployed woman and men from disadvantaged communities will be provided training to produce garments, shoes and accessories, from environmentally sustainable materials (environmentally benign or recycled.)The message here is that clothes and jewelry do not have to be made from materials that impact the environment when they are disposed of. Most of all clothing and jewelry can be made from natural or recycled materials.
 

Project Snapshot

Grantee:
Barbados Coalition of Services Industry
Country:
Barbados
Area Of Work:
Chemicals
Grant Amount:
US$ 3,000.00
Co-Financing Cash:
Co-Financing in-Kind:
US$ 1,200.00
Project Number:
BAR/SGP/OP6/Y8/CORE/CH/22/07
Status:
Satisfactorily Completed

SGP Country office contact

Mr. David Bynoe
Phone:
246)-467-6011
Fax:
246)-429-2448
Email:

Address

UN House, Marine Gardens, Hastings
, Christ Church

Country Website