In pictures: world’s first museum for sustainable fashion opens in Amsterdam

Amsterdam -- Fashion for Good, the global initiative for sustainable fashion, has opened the doors of its museum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, today. The space aims to show visitors how clothes are made and help them to discover innovations shaping a more sustainable future for fashion. FashionUnited visited the museum ahead of its launch and spoke to the organization about the initiative.

“We want to give a new image to sustainable fashion”, said Jake Barton, founder of Local Projects, the design firm which helped Fashion for Good to develop the project. “It’s time for consumers to demand the industry to become more sustainable”. His team was careful, however, not to overwhelm visitors with information. “We’re not showing absolutely everything that’s possible in terms of sustainability”.

Sneak peek: Fashion for Good Experience museum

The museum occupies three floors, which are dedicated to the present, past and future of fashion. Visitors receive a bracelet upon arrival which allows them to earn points each time they promise to adopt more sustainable habits, such as “not buying any new clothes for a month” or “only washing clothes with cold water from now on”. At the end of the visit, they can take their very own “Good Fashion Action Plan”, a digital guide with tips to keep their promises.

Every single detail of the museum was chosen according to Fashion for Good’s sustainability criteria: the furniture is second-hand, bracelets are made from recycled plastic, carpets are Cradle to Cradle certified, and the building’s big windows allow for it to rely on as much natural light as possible. Installations feature either renewable or recycled materials, such as nylon collected from landfills and oceans, and wood sourced from sustainably managed forests.

The section dedicated to the past, which occupies the building’s basement, displays a brief history of the fashion industry, and how the Fashion for Good movement started. This installation also allows visitors to follow a T-shirt’s life cycle, from picking cotton to weaving, to the dyeing process and transportation to the store.

The ground floor is dedicated to the fashion industry’s present. There, visitors can see sustainable innovations which are already available for purchase. In fact, they are available for purchase right there and then: sustainable collections by brands such as Stella McCartney, Kings of Indigo and Ecoalf can all be bought in the museum’s shop.

Sustainable textile innovations “on the verge of disrupting the fashion industry”, such as mushroom leather and kapok-based materials, are what’s on display at the museum’s third and final section. However, other initiatives which can help the world to become more sustainable, such as Airbnb or the Good on You app, are also highlighted by the installations.

Fashion for Good Experience is open seven days a week at Rokin 102, in the heart of Amsterdam. Entrance is free.

Pictures: Fashion for Good/Presstigieux