Between the current health crisis and the economic crisis to come, IFA Paris, like many actors of the fashion industry, is mobilizing. Although this social crisis is a challenge for everyone, the confinement benefits activities that are both healthy and unusual: thorough cleaning and careful tidying are at the top of the list. Faced with COVID-19, initiatives from the public are multiplying, and the involvement of everyone in this struggle is essential. We call on all of our students to put their fashion design skills to good use, by sorting-out their wardrobes and recycling all fabrics in a valuable way.
Freeing up one’s wardrobe is a little bit like freeing one’s mind, and what better way to encourage creativity?
While minimalist dressing has become an art of living for some (like the Japanese Marie Kondo and her Konmari method), we suggest you opt for empty storage. In 5 steps and a few tools (cardboard boxes, bags, tape and scissors), reduce your dressing to the essentials.
1. Empty your cupboards completely
The bulk of your clothing, underwear, accessories or shoes could make you dizzy. Between orphaned socks, outdated prints, or sizes that have become inadequate, the unneeded will appear clearer once you’ve grouped them together.
2. Prioritize by piles
Make 3 separate stacks: the one dedicated to your favourite items (which you wear often), the one with the clothes you never wear (impulse purchase, out-of-date style, inappropriate size), and finally the one reserved for the items you rarely wear (but to which you are nevertheless attached).
3. Classify your treasures
Sort the first stack by style, type or color, find your own logic. If you want the benefits of the approach to last, reorganize your spaces (boxes, drawer dividers, adapted hangers). Fold your garments vertically rather than horizontally, the garment is less damaged because it is not subject to the weight of the upper parts, the more compact storage also permits better overall visibility.
4. Sell, donate, recycle
The second (often very large) pile is all sorts of unnecessary hoarding and the guilty pleasures of fast fashion. Anything that hasn’t been worn for 2 years, will probably not be worn anymore, don’t hesitate to get rid of it! Empty dressing-rooms, associations, textile recycling containers, sort and dispatch in rubbish bags or cardboard boxes according to the destination. In the future, revise your purchasing strategy and perhaps refocus on quality basics.
Stay at home!
5. Clothes full of emotion
The last pile is the most complex to sort because these clothes are often related to affection. Give them one last chance by arranging them a little more visibly, such as next to your favorite pieces. Either they will be part of your everyday life again, or they will end up in pile 2 the next time you sort …
Fighting the shortage of masks
Coronavirus-related quarantine is certainly an opportunity to think about more ethical behaviour, but it is also an opportunity to support a section of the population in great distress. The COVID cataclysm19 has caused a shortage of surgical masks; many professional bodies are seeking outside help to try to find alternative solutions to the FFP2 protective masks. The DIY mask tutos made of fabric, although not approved, are flourishing on the market. Some of them come directly from university hospitals (Grenoble, Lille), a call for help revealing the urgency to mobilize…
What if you too, after sorting your dressing room, took part in this citizen movement by recycling the material of your old clothes? Making masks is now becoming a militant act. Even if they do not meet with the unanimous approval of all epidemiologists, they will certainly satisfy a disappointed staff, particularly exposed, who continue to work without any protection (firemen, policemen, EHPAD care assistants, cashiers…), so hurry, to your machines!
Sew for yourself, for others, contribute to the fight against the plague of the century by not omitting barrier gestures, because to this day, they remain the best protection. Take care of yourself!