“The ‘fast fashion’ and the ‘low costs’ are not sustainable and will never be”

What started as a showcase for sustainable fashion designers in Spain is ultimately a more transversal and “holistic” project, in the words of Paloma García, founder of ‘The Circular Project’, in which not only sells and represents, but also provides training, performs and performs events and performs events and performs events. After carrying out the audit of the public interest to demonstrate his project, he came into contact with Triple Balance Healthy Companies. “It was a relief, people who do things like me,” recognizes this entrepreneur whose life revolves around sustainable fashion, although “people will hardly demand it if they don’t know them.”

– How do you get one of the most visible faces of sustainable fashion?

– Place my nose where I am not expected (laughs). People don’t know what sustainable fashion is. It is associated with second -hand or market, but does not treat the keys to what is meant to achieve. It is very aware of the impact of industry on people and country, which fights on all fronts to reduce the impact and that is a more honest undertaking. The goal is to make fashion a little more human than now.

– What results have achieved so far?

– We have been open to the doors for five years and it is something wonderful, although the project was made earlier. We are the first specialized multi -fire room, head office of the Sustainable Fashion Association and we conclude an agreement with a store in Brooklyn (New York). But until recently I thought I was preaching in the desert. We have a very big enemy in ‘fast fashion’ and the ‘low costs’. In addition to us, there are spaces that offer clothing at very low costs. It has been very complicated. Perhaps after Greta Thunberg or climatic emergency, more exercise will be noticed, they listen differently to us. First they considered me a ‘nerd’, nobody understood me because I was against the current one against an economic system where it is important to be the income statement. From a few months to this part we collect the fruits of the sown, now people enter with a different mentality, they want to change the habits.

– Which clothing promotes?

– In our room we have accessories, women’s and man clothing and some decoration in collaboration with the NGO Oxfam brand. I want to treat a wide spectrum of what is being done in a sustainable way with new materials, zero pattern, new techniques … We want a wider offer.

– The big chains have democratized fashion. Can you become sustainable in the ethical and the environment, and not a face?

– You can’t make clothes. And that is not sustainable fashion. The ‘fast fashion’ and the ‘low costs’ are not sustainable and will never be, they paint it the way they paint it. They lead to producing more at a lower price and that is to subject the planet to huge production stress, using resources that we don’t have. You have to change the paradigm, look beyond pure business. The work of the people is not appreciated and if we did, we would all enrich each other. When you buy ‘cheap’, you drive that your salary is also ‘cheap’ because the entire market is lowered. But if you appreciate the work of others in the consumer company and that they have to charge a worthy salary for it, you also drive that your work is more appreciated. Now everyone has access to great productions and it is true that there has been a democratization of fashion, but in the circumstances of Semi -Slavery of people who produce clothing and with irreversible environmental damage. It is a very expensive price for cheap fashion.

– How do I bring that change?

-In Bangladés, an eight -storey building collapsed, despite the fact that there were warnings that it was not in habitability. But they were forced to enter the employees under the threat of not charging the salary. It was the Cathartic moment and the beginning of ‘Modern Revolution’ against these situations. The only thing needed is that settings respond. People know what there is, but they don’t have the facilities to access sustainable fashion. That is why a law is missing. But the transition is complicated because it uses many people. There must be an organized plan for the change in structure and in the way of working. We argue for revitalizing local production and Spain has lost as a textile power by outsourcing production.