Reused clothing becomes fashionable in Córdoba with a parade to raise awareness about sustainability

Reused clothing is in fashion or, at least, that is what is intended in Córdoba, because "society must be made aware of the importance of giving garments a second life and being more environmentally sustainable environment" said the deputy mayor and president of Sadeco, Isabel Albás, during the presentation of Reusemed, a project that has been carried out throughout Europe and that is part of sustainable strategies, which are also so fashionable in the speeches of the politicians.

With the help of the design academy, La Mariposa de Hilo, the Córdoba City Council has displayed this Sunday in the gardens of the Duque de Rivas, a second-life clothing parade, donated by associations such as Madre Courage, Cáritas o Sonrisa de Lunares and that the students of the school run by the designer Lola Espinosa, have been in charge of selecting to later be able to update it to current trends and turn it into fashion.

Albás wanted to make clear the difference between recycling, which should be the "last link in the chain", and the reuse of clothing, which should be "the first step" to take when we try to get rid of a garment, because "This way we will be more respectful with the environment". In this sense, he has appealed to the solidarity of the citizens so that they do not skip this step -to reuse-, and hopefully the circle of what this campaign has as objectives is closed: to raise awareness and make the people of Cordoba aware of the opportunity that offered by these associations that sell second-hand clothes.

Likewise, the current president of Sadeco, has declared that this is the first edition of this initiative that the Consistory has called Garment-2, a play on words between the "garment" of clothing and the "2", which refers to the second life, and, therefore, it is not ruled out that more actions are carried out in this regard.

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The parade began with a first parade of models, 10 of them belonging to the Langa Academy and five volunteers, preceded by a dance performance from the same school that has been appearing again and again on stage. As confirmed by Lola Espinosa, there have been 14 women and one man, of all ages, the student designers who have been in charge of customizing the garments, turning them into new ones. Subsequently, a second parade of models has been carried out that has concluded the parade pending the verdict of the jury that had the task of establishing a podium of three.

The jury has declared to this newspaper that the creativity of the designers has prevailed in their decision when it comes to reusing and making something totally different from the original garment. Thus, the first place has been for Ángeles Pérez who has better understood the concept valued by the judges; the second, for Francisco Jesús, who has turned a suit jacket into a dress; and the third prize for Elena García, who has based her construction on the hippie movement.

The work of the associations

Sonrisa de Lunares, is a Cordovan association dedicated to children who are in pediatric palliative care on the second floor of the Reina Sofía Hospital, and which according to the data it has provided its president, Luis Rodríguez, during the last year they have assisted more than 1,200 families in speech therapist, psychologist and physiotherapist services free of charge. They receive donations of second-hand clothing that they put up for sale "to pay these professionals," says Rodríguez. Everything comes to them: shoes, baby clothes, party dresses and even new wedding dresses. With the pandemic "the level of volunteers has dropped and people have been more reluctant to buy these second-hand clothes," says the president of this association.

Mother Courage is another of the recognized associations that receives clothing donations and sells them at reasonable prices in their market, to give these garments a second life. "If they are very deteriorated, we send them to recycling companies," says David Belmonte, an organization technician for this association that tries to raise awareness about what they call "good living", a nostalgia for the modus operandi of the eighties, "when we we passed the clothes between cousins ​​and brothers". The closets are full of "things we don't wear," says Belmonte.