Finally, after a long wait, we were able to resume our Fair-Fashion awareness project “Fair Champions”. With CoVid-19 in the back of our minds, we had to rethink how we were going to structure the project as the last time we had it, social distancing was not required. However, it was never going to be a challenge that we were going to shy away from. We embraced the obstacles and challenged ourselves to think out of the box and be creative. 

So far, we have visited 4 out 5 planned elementary schools throughout Berlin. We visited neighborhoods such as Lichterfelde, Wedding and of course our beloved Freidrichshain.                                                                                                                            

The children were always happy to see us. Their energetic vibe was to be felt throughout the two days in which we visited them and told them all about Fair Fashion. As a part of our project, we ask the children before we start the workshop to tell us about their knowledge and experience with terms such as Fast Fashion and Fair Fashion. As much as we were suprised by some answers, this section showed us that our workshop is important for many pupils that don't seem to know a lot about the topic.

The best part of Day 1 was always when the pupils got to dress up and participate in the tasks, that a factory worker abroad would usually do. Through that training, we try to show the pupils how unfair the fashion industry could be and how bad the factory workers actually get treated. This method always resonated with them and we saw how emotionally involved they always got while talking about their experience afterwards.

On Day 2 after showing them the unfairness of the industry that we just talked about, we commenced with presenting them with the alternatives, and all the fair labels. Obviously what touched them the most was knowing that not only workers are underpaid, but that children get involved in this industry as well.

Finally, we got to hear their statements through the T-shirts that they designed and painted themselves with almost no help at all. As we expected, we had a number of very powerful T-shirts with clear and beautiful messages.  

We are looking forward to visiting the last school on our schedule in November. It’s located in the quiet Moabit. We are hoping that the second wave of the pandemic does not delay the project any longer. And as always, we are very excited about meeting the students there and we hope we can maximize our efforts to make the project as enjoyable as possible while still keeping all the restrictions in mind.