In an effort to encourage more sustainable garment practices, Electrolux has partnered with renowned Australian Designers Luke Sales and Anna Plunkett of Romance Was Born, as part of a global campaign to inspire consumers to Break The Pattern.
The partnership with the designer duo, known for their colourful, upcycled and high-end collections, comes with a mission: demonstrating that used clothes still have value and giving consumers the tools to make their clothes last longer.
To support this mission, Electrolux will launch a 3-day local pop-up activation in Sydney where attendees will be able to participate in a unique tailoring and clothing refresh experience with Romance Was Born. Guests can bring along a well-loved garment from their wardrobe and sit down with the duo for a one-on-one design consult to discuss how they will breathe new life into the item. After all, the most sustainable clothes are the ones you already have.
“We have always believed that fashion as it exists today, cannot be our future. For us, sustainable habits like upcycling are not just a trend, but a way of the tomorrow. Using vintage and reclaimed fabrics and objects has been a big part of our brand DNA since we started Romance Was Born, but that’s not where sustainable fashion habits stop.
“As much as buying responsible fashion is key, it’s only one part of the clothing waste issue. Garment care is an often overlooked, but important, part of the puzzle. Something as simple as washing less, making sure you’re doing full loads and lowering wash temperatures are all switches we can make to help extend the life of your garments and keep clothing out of landfill,” says Anna Plunkett, Co-Founder at Romance Was Born.
About the global clothing waste issue:
Clothes are among the most personal things we own, but our wardrobes are contributing to global climate change. Part of the problem is fast fashion—another is aftercare. Due to poor, outdated laundry habits, the lifespan of garments is diminishing.
Globally, approximately 73% of all textile waste ends up in landfill or is incinerated[ii]. The Atacama Desert in Chile, home of the second biggest garment graveyard worldwide – has lately turned into a symbol of the acceleration of fast fashion and the rise of textile waste. According to the UNECE[iii], 21 billion tonnes of clothes end up in landfill every year. In the Atacama Desert alone approximately 39,000 tonnes of clothes are discarded every year.
By modernising care technology for all fabrics and inspiring better care habits, Electrolux’s aim is to halve the environmental impact of caring for clothes and prolong the average life of garments.
“Besides the challenges with fast fashion, it’s clear that we need to change the way we use and take care of our clothes. We know from research that extending the life of our clothes by just nine months can reduce the carbon impact, the water impact, and the waste produced by 20-30 percent. There are different ways to do this: repair or upcycle old clothes, and air, steam, or wash clothes in a way that is more sustainable,” says Vanessa Butani, VP Group Sustainability at Electrolux.
“If everyone made a small change to break their pattern, each and every one of us could reduce our environmental impact from textiles. By lowering wash temperatures and switching to liquid detergent from powder could mean saving the equivalent of 50 kg of CO2 per appliance per year. It could create a huge impact when scaled up to millions of consumers following the same example,” Vanessa continues.
Activation details:
- Location – Break The Pattern Pop-Up – 205 Oxford St, Darlinghurst NSW 2010
- When – Wednesday 21 September – Friday 23 September
- Opening Hours –
- Wednesday – 10am – 6pm
- Thursday – 11am – 7pm
- Friday – 10am – 4pm
- Event information and sign up: https://events.humanitix.com/electrolux-break-the-pattern
Learn more about the campaign and how you can Break The Pattern: https://www.electrolux.com.au/explore/break-the-pattern-campaign/
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About Electrolux’s Better Living 2030 Goals
The Better Living Program is a 11-year action plan by Electrolux that aims to shape better and more sustainable living around the world. Its focus is an evolving list of 100 bold actions that we pledge to undertake by 2030. These actions represent our commitment to the four clear targets we have defined across the categories of Better Eating, Better Garment Care, Better Home Environment and Better Company. Learn more here.
[i] Electrolux. The Truth About Laundry. Stockholm: Electrolux, 2021. [https://admin.betterlivingprogram.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Electrolux_TheTruthAboutLaundry_WhitePaper-1.pdf] (Accessed 2022-07-08)
[ii] Ellen MacArthur Foundation. A new textiles economy: Redesigning fashion’s future 2017. Isle Of Wight: Ellen MacArthur Foundation, [https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/a-new-textiles-economy] (Accessed 2022-07-08).
[iii]United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. Fashion and the SDGs:what role for the UN? Geneva: UNECE, 2019. [https://unece.org/DAM/RCM_Website/RFSD_2018_Side_event_sustainable_fashion.pdf] (Accessed 2022-07-08).
For media enquiries, contact Humann Comms:
Keiran Mannion | 0434 899 810 | keiran.mannion@humanncomms.com
