Fashion for Good, Smart Cities, and the Van Gogh Museum!

Hello, this is Lauren Armstrong, and I am the writer for the blog post today! I am so excited to tell you all what we did on our FIFTH day in Amsterdam! We started the day off by heading to the Fashion for Good museum. Our guide showed us around the various floors of the museum, which were designed consecutively to show the past, present and future. To start our tour around the museum on the first floor, our guide showed us a brief timeline of the history surrounding fashion from the late 1700’s to present day. The timeline focused on the ways in which fashion has evolved from necessary clothing, to an expression of oneself, to the overconsumption and fast fashion culture that we face today. (See image below)

The next room on that floor was focused on the manufacturing of clothing today. We got an amazing presentation with visuals and numbered steps to fully reveal the process that showed how clothes are made. The process revealed many discouraging factors, such as the harsh working conditions, as well the overarching idea of sustainable challenges that the textile industry of clothing faces.

The next floor, also known as the present floor, was focused on the present day steps that some companies are taking to be more sustainable. An example of this was a clothing brand that took fast fashion and used clothes from the global “North” and turned it into something expensive and creative, so that the money went to the Ugandan textile industry which recently collapsed due to global “North”. Another company used pre-consumer waste from factory and warehouse floors and turned it into clothing. These companies were not the only companies present in the museum, but these two stuck out to me the most. These innovative ideas and changes that they made are exactly what we need to make a more sustainable environment in the world.

Finally, the last floor was focused on the future. The future solutions that different companies had invented were amazing and beyond creative, ranging from “apple leather” to an Australian developed app that could help someone identify if their clothes were sustainable/not fast fashion. (This app is called “Good On You”)

Next, we ate lunch! My friends and I ate poke bowls in a cool Amsterdam alley. Next, we met Tom Van Maur, an architect based in Amsterdam. He showed us around a few different stops that each showed how Amsterdam is becoming a “Smart City”. Cameras were implemented to scan and identify the amount of people in a certain area, as well as identify faces. There were other innovations, such as a boat called “Roboat” (which was literally a robotic boat). It could serve as a moving bridge or a trash collection vehicle.

Then, we went inside and explored the different ways that a smart city could be created, anywhere, at any time. Then, I went to the Van Gogh Museum with a few friends. I spent time journaling and drawing. I am super excited to get back home and paint a Van Gogh inspired image of Iceland or Amsterdam.

Overall, today was a 10/10. I enjoyed the diverse activities that we did throughout the day. Art, sustainability, and fashion!! Such a cool combo. Signing off, Lauren