Cross-Cultural Collaboration Shines in Local Pilots

The CREATE project aims to address the social and environmental challenges stemming from the fashion industry. With participants from an array of countries, including Tunisia, Vietnam, Zimbabwe, Congo, Cameroon, Guinea, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Latvia, and North Thrace of Greece, our mission is to empower women to co-create sustainable fashion collections that draw inspiration from different cultural backgrounds.

In a world where alarming statistics highlight the environmental and social costs of the mainstream fashion industry, CREATE seeks to train and upskill participants, harnessing fashion as a force for inclusivity and sustainability. Our learning materials are designed to promote female entrepreneurship, nurture critical thinking, and encourage lifelong learning while fostering collaboration and the sharing of expertise, ultimately inspiring the broader adoption of circular fashion practices.

In order to fully test and validate our project results, we conducted local pilots where participants were organised into pairs and tasked with crafting collections inspired by their respective cultural heritages.

Over several months, participants actively engaged in discussions, shared their personal narratives, and reflected on their creative journeys. They underwent training, which included workshops emphasising personal growth, collaborative efforts, research skills, a mastery of printing techniques, and textile manipulations. Additionally, participants had the opportunity to craft mood boards, create digital sketchbooks, and engage with experts passionate about sustainability.

Following the successful conclusion of these pilots, we recently published our educational toolkit, ensuring that a wider audience can access the valuable resources and knowledge we've generated.