Statement by Philipp Keil, Managing Director of the Baden-Württemberg Development Cooperation Foundation (SEZ) on the occasion of the opening press conference for the 2019 spring trade fairs
The Fair Trade trade fair is both a showcase and a signpost. It shows a variety of sustainable products and services and its supporting program addresses current topics and trends.
With Future Fashion, the Baden-Württemberg Development Cooperation Foundation (SEZ) took up a topic three years ago that has now gained considerable momentum and is becoming more and more mainstream. Future Fashion is the SEZ's movement for sustainable textiles and conscious consumer behavior. In doing so, we are relying on the personal responsibility of all Baden-Württemberg residents not just to consume fashion, but also to consciously make a statement by purchasing clothing for sustainability, for the protection of resources and, above all, for more climate justice.
Most of the textiles we buy end up in the old clothing bin within a short time - barely worn. Every year around 1,35 million tons of discarded textiles accumulate in Germany alone. About three quarters of it goes to recyclers and a quarter ends up in the trash. The trend towards cheap clothes that has been going on for years is causing the quality of textiles to continue to decline and making it more difficult to recycle the fibers.
According to the Federal Statistical Office, everyone in Germany causes around 200 kilograms of CO2 emissions per year from clothing and textiles. If more people changed their consumer behavior and bought sustainable fashion and wore the clothes for longer, this alone would save a lot of climate-damaging carbon dioxide without us having to forego our supposed quality of life.
Children and young people have been taking to the streets for more climate protection for months. With Fridays for Future, the young generation is calling on all of us, not just politicians, to finally put our words into action.
Future fashion and our climate
Future Fashion hits the nerve of young people in Baden-Württemberg. Clothes swap parties, future fashion city tours and Future Fashion@school – interest in sustainable fashion is great and constantly growing. This unbroken interest is also evident at this year's Fair Trade trade fair with its special exhibition area Future Fashion, which occupies a central place. We are pleased that we were able to attract many cool labels to present themselves at Fair Trade in 2019. For example, Franziska Kaiser from Stuttgart, who makes stylish bags from leftover leather. She will not only show her models, but will even be at Fair Trade with a small workshop. Sarah Müller is represented by the Kenyan label Nyuzi Blackwhite, which she founded. Bags, pouches, cloths and other things are all upcycled products. They are made in the social project Karai Childrens Vocational Center in Kenya.
There is no way around questioning our own consumer behavior and, above all, changing it towards more sustainability. This is the only way we can manage to limit global warming to a tolerable level. The consequences of climate change are already clearly noticeable in countries in the global south. For example, in Bangladesh, the country from which most of our textiles come and which has repeatedly been in the headlines in recent years due to the scandalous working conditions in textile factories.
Bangladesh is among the countries most affected by climate change, despite contributing only 0,4 percent of global CO2 emissions. By 2100, about 30 percent of the country's coastal areas will be flooded, a result of rising sea levels caused by climate change. But the effects of global warming are already clearly noticeable in the South Asian country.
Our consumer behavior influences the lives of many people, even if we are often not aware of it. One of the tasks of the Baden-Württemberg Development Cooperation Foundation is to draw attention to such connections. The Fair Trade trade fair in particular is a platform that we want to use for this purpose.
Start-ups from Africa
Our second focus, alongside Future Fashion, is the partnership with Africa. We want to continue to build and expand our network with young African social entrepreneurs and connect them with German start-ups. African start-ups present ideas and solutions from their countries at Fair Trade, thereby enabling visitors to change their perspective. In addition to her ideas, the founder Nadia Nintunze from Impact Hub Bujumbura will also bring ecologically produced products from the Baden-Württemberg partner country Burundi with her and present them at the trade fair.
Waithera Gaitho, the managing director of Alternatives Africa from Kenya, provides information about her work in the East African country. She advises and supports Kenyan start-ups, especially young people who want to become self-employed as micro or small entrepreneurs. She will also speak about her ideas and the African - or rather, the Kenyan - start-up scene as a keynote speaker at the opening of Fair Trade on Thursday. In addition to her work for Alternatives Africa, Waithera Gaitho is an advisor to the Kenyan government on youth policy and chair of the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA).
About the Baden-Württemberg Development Cooperation Foundation (SEZ)
The Baden-Württemberg Development Cooperation Foundation (SEZ), founded in 1991, is the initiator and ideal sponsor of the Fair trade trade fair. The SEZ wants to sensitize the Baden-Württemberg population for globally responsible action and show how everyone can do something for a fairer world.
Press contact:
Beate Wörner
Tel.: 0711 / 2 10 29-40
Email: woerner@sez.de
Further information
