Fair trade and circular economy in Mechelen
M-fair is a festival focusing on fair trade and circular fashion, organised yearly by CECI project partner city of Mechelen in collaboration with local organisations. Fast fashion has a huge impact on the environment and on the well-being of people producing it in low cost countries. Every citizen of Mechelen may dive into the information provided on fair fashion and circular thanks to a wide range of workshops (e.g. make your own bag from a worn-out T shirt), testimonies from people working in the fashion industry, a maker market and market of local producers with a fair or circular story, a second hand market, a swishingevent.
There are three highlights of circular events on this inspirational day:
10.00-12.00: Cosh! – Conscious Shopping Made Easy – presents an app guiding consumers to shop in a more sustainable way. On M-fair, the founder of Cosh, Niki De Schryver will take fashion retailers in the region of Mechelen into the challenging world of fashion industry. She highlights why and when polluting practices or miserable working conditions are part of the production process. As such, fashion retailers can chose the right fibers or screen brands themselves when they buy the new collections for coming seasons
13.00-17.00 Mechelen’s Circular Textile Lab (CiLab) provides a roller coaster of circular projects called Circu(s)leren. From the most vulnerable youngsters from drumband Fabotastix, to the impressive story of formerly Aleppo based tailor Shawkat Khalil on textiles in Syria, we will listen to upcycling fashion designers from Daily Menu or Maison Méson who made a collection from former hospital towels), students from the Advanced Bachelor in Furniture Design (VOMO) designing furniture out of textile waste and to major Belgian fashion player JBC presenting their circular initiatives
14.00-17.00 The fair and circular market hosts a variety of local entrepreneurs, but we keep a special spot for citizens working on the multi-mix-mat: neighbourhoods in the city of Mechelen were invited to make the map of their neigborhood on the basis of stacked up clothing. While sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, patchworking, cross-stitching, they revalue fibers as well as their neighborhoods.
