Greece, as most European countries is home to many fast fashion company. The fashion and textile industries are the second biggest polluter in the world, right after the oil industry, namely affecting water pollution. This is mainly because its volume of production dwarfs most other industries. As if that is not enough, most of garment production has shifted to developing countries, mainly in Asia, in search of cheaper labor, increasing the rates of exploitation of underage children and inhumane working conditions.

Efforts have been made from many well-known brands to start sustainable collections with recycled fabrics, also to share the employee stories and to start donating or upcycling their clothes. Upcycled fashion takes the clothes that would otherwise be thrown away and reinvents them. As a result, clothing is given a new look and a new life, rather than being thrown into the landfill. A practice that is common in fast-fashion brands that refuse to donate or reuse their old collections because they do not wish middle-income groups to have access to their brand.

In this program, the volunteers will be working directly with local non profits that are creating ethically made fashion apparel only from sustainable textiles and materials, and are offering equal employment opportunities to refugees and survivors of human trafficking. These organizations are collecting excess clothing, sorting, disinfecting and distributing them to solidarity organization.

Your role will include manual tasks in the collection factory; communication and coordination support in fashion school workshops and social media support in content creation and filmmaking. Through your participation in this program, you will be directly working for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 12, ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns.