Do you know the story behind the clothing brand you are wearing? A lot of our clothes are being produced in very bad conditions. Are there possibilities to change this current system?
As part of the Dutch Sustainable Fashion Week, Next Fashion Lab will demonstrate an exclusive talk with video material. Come and get introduced to the manufacturers, garment workers, NGOs, business developers and fashion brands of the Albanian clothing industry. After the talk, a panel of fashion professionals will discuss the burning issues and solutions of the garment industry.
The Albanian clothing and footwear industry is characterised by approximately 1.000 manufactures and 150.000 garment workers. Low production costs are tempting for the Italian luxury fashion industry, these garments, produced in Albania, are sold as ‘Made in Italy’. The majority of workers is characterised by women who work for an extremely low (minimum wage) income, six or seven days a week. This current system has an impact on how the young generation looks at the future: they see themselves as the next garment workers, working in the same conditions. Together with the young generation and the fashion industry, Veerle Luiting searched for insights in how to change and improve the current system.
The evening is closed with a Q&A and discussion group with:
- Roosmarie Ruigrok (Clean & Unique, Fashion Revolution The Netherlands)
- Stella Sallaku (designer and character in the film)
- Adia Sakiqi (Ambassador of the Albanian Embassy The Hague)
- Veerle Luiting (Next Fashion Lab)
- Shkelzen Marku (Yunus Social Business Balkans).
About the speaker
Veerle Luiting was introduced to Albania as an intern and project manager for MVO Nederland (CSR Netherlands). After she designed a capacity programme for the Albanian garment industry, the current situation got under her skin in such a manner, that she decided to capture the fashion production chain on film. Veerle Luiting is a business developer operating on the crossroad of fashion, technology and sustainability. Her company Next Fashion Lab has coached teams, rebranded fashion brands and established long term strategies for renowned fashion tech labs.
Join the discussion and stay updated via our Facebook event.
Photo: Jeroen van Kooten