Amsterdam, a city that is home to a number of world-famous museums like the Rijksmuseum, officially stated sustainability as one of their top priorities. So it is rather befitting that the world’s first museum on sustainable fashion is located in the city of freedom. We first wrote about the Fashion For Good Experience (FFGE) back in August 2018. A few months later, in October 2018, they opened their doors to the public, drawing in a mixed crowd of serious enthusiasts, curious tourists who happened to be in the vicinity and those who fall in between.
The Fashion For Good Experience, A Chic Representation Of Fashion and Sustainability
Fashion For Good is an independent body supported by industry partners including C&A, adidas, Kering and PVH. The global initiative runs a bi-annual accelerator programme in association with Plug & Play. So far, over 50 startups from that programme have been showcased at FFGE in the Innovators Lounge, with new additions in the pipeline.
“The museum consciously adopts a positive and simple-to-understand approach to storytelling.”
We took a tour of the space, which is spread across three floors. Representing the past, present and future of fashion, FFGE has the power to entice, whether you are an expert in this field or you are open to knowing more about the backstory of your clothes and positive actions you could undertake as a customer.
A One Stop Shop Of Sustainable Innovations For The Apparel Industry
On arrival, visitors are given an RFID bracelet(made from recycled plastic) to digitally interact with the museum, which prompts them to take as many as 33 positive actions. With each tap, the user expresses their commitment to an action they feel strongly about, finishing off with that personalised action plan emailed to them. To continue the conversation around behaviour change, the FFGE team plans to send follow-ups and event invites to events like a mending workshop or a documentary screening, aligned to the visitor’s commitments.
” [You] can browse through the collections that include designers like Kings of Indigo, ECOALF, adidas x Parley and Insane In The Rain.”
Meanwhile, ditching the usual museum memorabilia, FFGE offers the option of a customisable Cradle to Cradle Certified™ t-shirt. Visitors can choose from 144 designs that are projection-mapped onto a life-size mannequin and have their Good Fashion t-shirt printed on-demand at the venue. This free-to access museum is open to public seven days a week. With an ongoing event calendar, the place is turning out to be the hub of all things good fashion in Amsterdam.
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Though its early days and the retail space doesn’t quite stand out from the museum, the team is fine-tuning the proposition to provide an immersive experience and experiment with offering new ways of selling apparel. And as much as the museum focusses on industry innovation, it also tries to engage with a broader set of audience by offering practical tips on garment buying, usage and repair in a manner that grabs attention.
Molshree is a fashion consultant and researcher based in London. With a background in fashion retail, she is currently focussing on projects that propel the sustainability agenda into the mainstream.