The brand is launching a global campaign, #BreakThePattern, with which it seeks to inspire people to adopt new behaviors
The problem of discarding clothes that still have a useful life led Eletrolux to launch a global campaign, #BreakThePattern (Break the Pattern), with which it seeks to inspire people to adopt new behaviors and take care of their pieces.
The accelerated disposal of clothes has become a serious problem from the point of view of sustainability, either because of the use of sanitary landfills or because of the demand for inputs for the production of new pieces. Globally, about 73% of all textile waste ends up in landfills or incinerated, according to data from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
Hence, the choice of the brand to record the campaign in the Atacama Desert, in Chile, known as the second largest clothing cemetery in the world. Information from UNECE (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe) indicates that 21 billion tons of clothes arrive in sanitary landfills every year. In the Atacama Desert, the figure is approximately 39,000 tons of clothing. are discarded annually.
There is no doubt that we need to change the way we wear and care for our clothes. Research says that if we extend the useful life of our clothes by just nine months, it is possible to reduce the impact on carbon footprint, water resources, as well as the waste produced by 20 to 30%. There are different ways to do this: repair or refurbish the clothes and, when the clothes need to be cleaned, air them, steam clean them or wash them in a more sustainable way, says Ana Peretti, marketing director for Electrolux America. Latin.
The company wants clothes to last twice as long with half the environmental impact by 2030. To this end, it proposes to democratize technologies that improve the way clothes are handled and help to optimize resources such as water and energy, in addition to putting on the market more efficient products from a sustainability perspective.
As part of the strategy, the brand invited the Swedish design duo Rave Review to create the first collection using pieces discarded in the Atacama desert cemetery. The idea is to draw attention to the problem and give new meaning to clothes, seeking to provoke new behaviors.
The global action is being carried out in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, France, Italy, England, Vietnam, Samoa, Israel, the United States and Canada.