Make the Fight Against Climate Change a Fashion Statement

Nike is known for many great campaigns. Their new one? Making the fight against climate change a fashion statement.

Many know the harms of fast fashion. From excess clothes being thrown into trash heaps to the large amounts of green house gas emissions, the increase in fast fashion has been detrimental to the environment. Nike is trying to fix that.

At the United Nations Youth Climate Summit, Nike held a workshop on Circularity in Fashion. This workshop taught young people how to avoid waste when purchasing new clothes and showed them the different ways that Nike is using sustainable practices in production. While in this workshop, Nike also showcased their Circular Design Guide for sustainable production. This free online resource guides users through sustainable production from the material choices to the circularity of the packaging. It is a call to action from Nike to all brands for sustainable production in clothing.

One example of Nike’s sustainable production guide is a shoe take back program called Reuse-a-shoe. Not only will Nike get rid of old, smelly shoes, they will also clean them and turn them into a new shoe creating a cycle of sustainability.

Sometimes tackling climate change can seem overwhelming. A great way to start the fight is for UNA to join in on the latest fashion trend and create clothing and shoe drives. Something as small as recycling a shoe has a large impact on the environment and helps reduce waste around the world. Our carbon footprints can be reduced with fashionable shoes. Who knew?

As brands gain more notoriety, they are pressured to continue to roll out new and exciting clothes, but young people aren’t buying it. Youths around the world have decided that to be fashionable, you have to be sustainable. Now that’s a fashion statement.

Lindsey Walsh participated in the UN Youth Climate Summit as a virtual Blogger Fellow for UNA-USA.