07.03.2024.
The Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund has announced a new edu-eco competition for elementary and secondary school students. The title of the Modna lasta creative competition reflects this year's theme - the perception of fashion and the fashion industry, which is becoming faster every year having an increasingly negative environmental impact.The shocking data published by the European Environment Agency state that about 2,700 litres of drinking water are needed to produce a single cotton T-shirt. This is a staggering amount of water, which would sustain the average person for as much as two and a half years. Sadly, it is expected the global textile fibre industry will grow to 145 million tonnes by 2030, resulting in significant pressure on the environment as well. In addition to reuse and recycling, the only solution to this problem is to fundamentally change the approach to the fashion industry and trends.
With its educational campaigns, the Fund wants to influence the younger generations, which is why this topic was a logical choice for this year's creative edu-eco contest. Through a series of creative tasks, the idea is to encourage children and young people, elementary and secondary school students respectively, to think about the importance of sustainable development and how much our daily lives shape the future of our planet. The aim of this competition putting into focus the concept of “slow fashion” as an alternative to the ever faster changing trends and the production of numerous collections. Fashion has always been a space for play and creativity, but it can be far more creative and even better emphasize one's individuality, without creating textile waste and having a negative impact on the environment.
How to achieve this is what the creative solutions of pupils divided into three categories will show. The task for pupils in grades 1 - 4 is to create the cover of a sustainable fashion magazine breathing new life into old clothes. Elementary school pupils in grades 5 - 8 have to research how to turn textile waste into a work of art and show it on the centrefold of their mini fashion magazine. Suitable for their age, the challenge for high school students is to explore and ponder about what is meant by “sustainable fashion”, and as a result of their research they need to design the content of a complete mini sustainable magazine.
The most creative groups of students, as well as their mentors, can look forward to valuable prizes. All interested parties can apply until 12 April 2024 on the competition website modnalasta.com. "We are sure that this year the creativity of young people will show that we leave our planet in the best possible hands, and we are looking forward to all the entries that will be submitted," said Sunčana Matić from the Fund.
