Fighting Fashion Waste

About the project

We partner with Danish designers to fight fashion waste and to raise funds for vulnerable youth and women in South Africa.

Each year a large amount of clothes and accessories coming straight from the factories end up not being sold. Either because of excess production or due to minor manufacturing failures. After the items have been through the first factory outlets the designers are left with few opportunities to make use of or sell the clothes.

This means that overproduced clothes often end up in a warehouse collecting dust on the shelves – or, in worst case scenario, is thrown on the dump.
This is a serious problem considering the important goal of establishing sustainable and socially responsible businesses.

The Danish designers we work with have entered into a partnership with us to use their unsold garments for a good cause.
We bring the surplus clothes to South Africa where it is sold at our Fashion Fundraiser event, which we run in collaboration with our local partner Designers without Borders SA. The Fashion Fundraiser is run by South African volunteers with the goal of raising funds for vulnerable youth and women in South Africa’s rural areas.

We believe that it makes better sense to convert the clothes to funds for programmes that empower and develop instead of giving it directly to the people in need.

Started
2012

Country
Denmark

Partners
Flora D
Froks
Green cotton group
Knowledge Cotton Apparel
Malene Birger
Lofina Shoes
Sophia Lee
Stig P
Tolsing
Eva & Claudi
Designere without Borders SA

SDG Goals

“I love what we do; it seems so right. Stig p is still based on my father’s founding values from 1969, proving it remains possible to create and develop a brand based on quality and design, good working conditions and mutual responsibility.”
Signe Kjer from stig p.

Visit Stig P

Sara Tolsing, the designer behind the brand was not in doubt, when we asked her to become a part of the project. For her it makes sense to help make a difference, both in relation to the industry but also for the people who benefits from the project.

Visit Tolsing

Sofie Nørregaard, the designer behind Sophia Lee, has always had a focus on sustainability in her production line. She design clothes of high quality that is made to last for many seasons, moving us away from a use-and-throw away culture. It therefore makes lots of sense for her to donate any surplus she has to DWB Dk.

Visit Sophia Lee

“Being a brand with a high focus on sustainability, we believe that it is important to take a stand on social responsibility. We also recognize that we, as a part of the industry, have a certain responsibility to help projects like this. We therefore proudly support DWB Dk, and our participation in the project also gives our products a long life, which is one of our important goals as a brand.”

Visit Knowledge Cotton Apparel

Lofina is a family owned business designing natural and sustainable leather shoes with leather scraps from the food industry, and only from local, European suppliers. Sustainability is integrated in their DNA and it therefore makes sense to donate any leftover products to DWB DK.

Visit Lofina

“Overproduction is a problem that’s very hard to avoid. It feels meaningless to destroy the clothes, so we’ve always sought other options and aim to support projects which make a positive change.”

Visit Eva & Claudi

“Designers without Borders Dk help us – by moving our few leftover pieces to parts of the world – where they gain back their value.”

Visit Froks

“Our greatest goal is to produce sustainable clothing. To do our part for the environment. However, we also believe in social projects, and since we always have a small surpluss at the end of the season, supporting DUG makes great sense to us.”

Visit Green Cotton Group

“The project aligns with our own values of re-use and susainability.
Also, we would like to fight the throw-away culture. Which we also focus on by ensuring that our products are of high quality – set to have a long life. It also makes a lot of sense to us to donate previous collections to a ‘new life’, which can contribute to positive, social change.”

Visit Flora D

The project aligns with our own values of re-use and sustainability.
Also, we would like to fight the throw-away culture. Which we also focus on by ensuring that our products are of high quality – set to have a long life.
It also makes a lot of sense to us to donate previous collections to a ‘new life’, which can contribute to positive, social change.

Visit Malene Birger

Our Co2 Emission

A graph visualising the amount of CO2 emission set free with a shipment of clothing from Denmark to South Africa

We have measured our carbon footprint when shipping one pallet of clothes to South Africa. We ship two times yearly.
The trip on the truck from Copenhagen to Hamburg emits approximately 350 kilo CO2, while the ship from Hamburg to Cape Town emits only 50 kilos of CO2.
This is equivalent to the CO2 emission for the production of approximately 18,5 kilo beef.

For every kilo of CO2 we emit during the transport from Copenhagen to Cape Town we donate 1 DKK to Verdens Skove, to help preserve Danish wild forest.