The Green Ensemble
Written by: Jesse Aduma
Photographer : ahmed-carter, francois-le-nguyen, julian-mora, harper-sunday, annie-spratt, cherie-birkner.
The plan to revolutionize the textile and fashion industries by creating high-quality, fashionable wear from recycled clothing
The Larry Rowbs Foundation’s dream of a greener, healthier future is just on the precipice of reality.
Renewable and sustainable fashion are the goals of a grassroots organization taking hold in Uganda. It’s an innovative idea that spawns from recognizing the need to halt the economic degradation caused by the importation of clothing wares into Africa and eradicate the environmental hazard that the modern textile industry is in Africa.
The Larry Rowbs Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to revolutionizing the African textile industry by recycling unusable clothing from landfills and using them as resource materials to develop high-quality, fashionable garments.
The organization also takes on the humanitarian responsibility of bettering the lives of African communities. It aims to do this by creating new employment and education opportunities in Uganda that, in the long run, would empower these communities to take their futures into their own hands by arming them with the knowledge, skills, and resources needed to produce their own clothing.
Photo of a female modeling a pair of fashionable pants in a green background. (ahmed-carter)
Photo of a female modeling a pair of fashionable pants in a green background. (ahmed-carter)
Image showing a variety of textiles sitting on a shelf. (Annie-spratt)
THE LARRY ROWBS CONCEPT
The organization aims to improve lives by recycling the enormous amounts of waste generated every day by fast fashion.
After a brief “shelf life,” these products are carelessly discarded and end up in landfills. Since most of these products are manufactured from nonbiodegradable materials (like polyester), they pollute and litter the environment permanently.
The production process of these materials itself is incredibly harmful to the environment. With chemical waste pumped out into large bodies of water, which are often used for everyday livelihoods like planting, bathing, and even drinking, communities are already in danger of consuming these chemicals that threaten the environment and human life.
As such, the Larry Rowbs Foundation is intent on eradicating this hazardous trend that has been the norm for decades by using waste materials (unused clothing) to serve as the base resource for their textile production, a process through which they will pump out biodegradable goods in an attempt to ensure a greener and healthier future.
Different colors of threads and equipment used in textile production. (Julian-mora)
Different colors of threads and equipment used in textile production. (Julian-mora)
Photo showing a pair of glasses sitting on a dress tagged “Sustainable” atop a side stool. (Harper-sunday)
THE LARRY ROWBS PROCESS
Larry Rowbs Foundation’s plan to revolutionize the textile industry beginning in Africa is obviously one of hefty proportions, especially factoring in the organization’s infancy. However, the foundation has created a plan to help bring its goals to fruition.
As a first order of business, the foundation plans to release a mobile game centered around the theme of sustainability and renewable fashion, with the aim to attract and stimulate interest in the youth and combat their main challenge—ignorance. This endeavor will raise awareness about the organization’s goals and vision, paving the way for further innovations.
Riding on the clout hopefully created by the game, the organization plans to launch an education facility in Uganda that will train thousands of students and supply them with the knowledge and skills required to manufacture fashionable, biodegradable clothing and foster the goal of sustainable fashion and the vision of a greener future.
After going through this “sustainable fashion school,” graduates would be gifted funds to help kick-start their very own businesses. Armed with both the knowledge and capital, these fully trained individuals would then be able to begin their businesses in their respective communities, where they will have the means to employ “approximately three hundred people” to aid in producing high-quality, fashionable garments with no threat to the environment or the populace.
Image of various photographed sustainability campaigns printed on cardboard and propped up on chairs. (cherie-birkner)
Image of various photographed sustainability
campaigns printed on cardboard and propped up
on chairs. (cherie-birkner)
CHALLENGES ENCOUNTERED BY The Larry Rowbs Foundation
As established earlier, the foundation’s goals are quite ambitious and may even be regarded as lofty. To stay true to its mission and bring its goals to fruition, the foundation has devised a strategy to combat its most significant challenges.
As stated before, one of the biggest problems facing the Larry Rowbs Foundation’s goal of a greener future by repurposing used clothing is ignorance. According to the foundation, many people are unaware of the devastation caused by the current state of affairs in the textile industry. Additionally, a lot of people underestimate the importance of clothing altogether and hence do not see the urgent need for a change in the current system.
The foundation’s solution to this problem is to develop a platform that will create awareness of this issue, a game that would also serve as a source of entertainment and help draw the attention of the masses.
Another major challenge encountered by the foundation is the lack of cooperation and collaboration in the fashion industry. According to the foundation, competition among companies is rampant as “big fishes” (big brands) don’t want to collaborate with the “small fishes” (smaller companies); they see them as a threat. While the foundation acknowledges the importance of competition in fostering growth, it is obvious that at this stage, collaborative efforts from larger players in the industry would prove more efficient than competition.
Yet another challenge that is unique to the African industry is changing the existing mentality regarding waste. The foundation’s method of resource acquisition would need them to acquire these unused clothing from landfills and any willing donors. Unfortunately, this poses a problem, as it is bound to trigger doubts and skepticism due to a prevalent mentality in certain areas; some people may be wary and skeptical about people seeking used clothing items, suspecting the reasoning of being diabolic in nature since this approach is both new and unconventional.
Fortunately, this is yet another area that may be tackled by creating awareness around issues of waste and sustainability. The foundation is confident that through education and enlightenment, these issues will be a thing of the past.
Armed with a proposed solar-powered facility, and a manufacturing method that uses less water, developed by partners in Spain and France, the Larry Rowbs Foundation is dead set on reaching its goals of a greener and healthier future through renewable and sustainable fashion. This mission will also serve to empower, educate, and provide employment opportunities for countless youths and, by so doing, serve to revitalize the economies of multiple African nations.
Jesse Aduma
Photo Credit:
Ahmed-carter, francois-le-nguyen, julian-mora, harper-sunday, annie-spratt, cherie-birkner.
