Every year, a team of students at Erasmus University organises the Erasmus Sustainability Days – a four-days program full of workshops, lectures and activities all dedicated to sustainability. This year, we’ve been invited to join the event and to talk about circular processes in the fashion industry.
Since we like to share our insights, we’ve gladly accepted the invitation and on 6th March, gathered our team and found our way to Erasmus University campus in Rotterdam. On board: Lots of information about circularity, our story and tee, as well as Isidoor, our circular dragon mascot.
Once there, we were excited to welcome more than 40 students from different disciplines and nationalities to our lecture. After introducing the 7 key elements of the circular economy (as defined by Circle Economy), we confronted the students with the complex task of making connections between all these elements.
What are the difficulties when you want to implement truly circular processes? For example, using waste as a resource might require collaborations with other partners, which in turn might require rethinking the business model. Making changes in one element requires changes in all other elements because of interdependencies between them.
So far, so good? After hearing about the complexity of making fashion circular by connecting all the elements, most students were doubtful whether it’s actually feasible. Most larger corporates, they argued, are hesitant to implement complex changes because they ultimately increase expenses, at least on the short run. However, on the long run such changes could increase a corporate’s assets – for example, when waste turns into a resource.
One thing’s for sure: Connecting all the elements to fully implement circularity in fashion requires many small steps – both in practise and in our minds. Taking small steps is what we do at easyessentials. We start small, with one T-Shirt, and connect all elements step by step.
We thank the Erasmus University Days-team for inviting us. Discussing circularity with so many interested students excites us to keep working hard to connect all the dots in the future.
May Isidoor, our circular dragon, guide us on the quest to get all dots connected.
Here’s what one of the attendees said about our lecture:
“Attending this session (…) has helped me reinforce my belief that there is hope for a better tomorrow. It was a wonderful session with easyessentials, getting up and close with a company that is doing what I want to achieve.”
Are you also planning an event and you’re looking for speakers? Feel free to send us a message anytime, we gladly share our insights.
