Guerrilla Fashion

Toxic model

The business model of fast fashion is based on cheap production, high consumption and a short lifetime of each garment. Every year, 100 billion garments are produced, half of which are thrown away within a year. Overproduction worsens the climate crisis, wastes huge amounts of water and leaves toxic chemicals and waste products and microplastics in our environment. The clothes already produced are enough to meet the clothing needs of six generations. The business model is therefore a toxic one.

Never sustainable

Fast fashion can never be ecologically or socially sustainable. While quick action is needed to reduce the deadly effects of climate change, fast-fashion chains are making plans to expand production. Sustainability policies at these companies appear to amount to hollow promises for the distant future, but the crisis is now, so it is time for action!

free clothing

In late 2023, a small group of rebels in the city centre of The Hague stepped inside H&M, Primark and Zara to hang second-hand clothes among the shops’ merchandise. Labels with “Take away!” and “Free!” were attached to the clothes, alongside information about the shops’ destructive practices. The action has since been emulated by dozens of places in the Netherlands and Germany. Customers of the shops often react positively – who wouldn’t want free clothes? – and meanwhile awareness is growing: fast fashion must stop.

JOIN THE GUERRILLA

Would you like to help fight fast fashion? Join the guerrilla! This action is very suitable for new rebels and rebels who prefer not to be arrested. Even people who haven’t done an action training (yet) can contribute. Guerrilla Fashion is active throughout the Netherlands and is expanding into Europe and the rest of the world, so wherever you are: sign up!

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If you want to learn more, or just send us a message, you can contact us via this link.

our demands

With this campaign, we focus on some of the most pressing pillars that sustain this destructive industry.

1. Tell the truth!

The fast fashion industry is fighting to maintain its credibility by marketing itself as more sustainable than it actually is. We know that the companies often lie and cheat. There are no standards to regulate them.

We demand honesty and transparency throughout the entire production chain.

2. Stop overproduction!

Even thrift stores are overwhelmed with excess clothing. Full bags are thrown away every day because production is so high. Ultimately, all this clothing ends up in landfills, while depleting vast amounts of natural resources.

We demand an end to the overproduction of clothing and the constant creation of new trends that cause wasteful consumption.

3. Treat employees fairly!

Fast fashion is possible thanks to the cheap purchasing prices of products that are transported all over the world, because it is still possible to exploit workers abroad in industry and retail.

We demand fair wages, safe working conditions and humane employment conditions for all workers in both the production chain and the store.

4. Promote sustainable alternatives!

Many clothing stores collect clothes under the pretense that they’d be recycled. With the Guerrilla Fashion action, we hang secondhand clothing on the racks to give away to customers. Research shows that in the branches where we do this, those clothes end up in the trash.

We demand that clothing companies actively promote the wearing of secondhand clothing as well as other sustainable alternatives.