Fashion Revolution Brasil and the reNature Foundation launch the Fashion for the Amazon Rainforest campaign

Fashion for the Amazon: catalyze action to regenerate the rainforest 

The Amazon is the largest rainforest in the world: it comprises the largest river basin on the planet, including 2,500 tree species and 30,000 types of other plants, and 60% of its territory is located in Brazil.

Besides the enormous natural wealth, the biome breathes culture and ancestry through natural medicine, weaving, cooking and oral traditions. The indigenous peoples of the region hold shares of lands that are fundamental to forest preservation and balance.

Fashion, as an important social system and industry that uses numerous natural and human resources, has great relations with the Amazon territory. Art, culture and craftsmanship intersect in the daily lives of indigenous peoples where the act of dressing tells a story of resistance and celebrates the origins of the earth. However, the relationship also has negative effects: since 1988, 42.8 million hectares of Brazilian Amazon has been deforested to raise cattle, which is almost twice the length of the United Kingdom.

Livestock is a market that drives fashion as well: cattle breeding is not only used for meat production and consumption, but also for leather. The tannery sector in Brazil sold, only in July 2019, $84.2 million to foreign markets. In addition to its production being linked to deforestation, handling it also brings other problems: one of the main materials used in tanning is chrome – a corrosive chemical that can contaminate water and soil.

Given this scenario, can the power of fashion be channeled into the preservation and regeneration of the Amazon rainforest? If we mobilize ourselves individually and collectively, the answer is yes.

For this reason, we present the Fashion for the Amazon Rainforest campaign, a partnership between Fashion Revolution Brasil and the reNature Foundation, to foster awareness and information about the impacts of fashion on forests, inviting everyone to engage in its regeneration processes. The action aims to inspire people and businesses to connect with the forest through the power of fashion, and to regenerate 100,000 hectares of degraded land by 2025 using agroforestry.

In the next months, awareness campaigns, citizens manifestos, letters of commitment to companies and donations to fund the implementation of agroforestry will be organized. 

Fashion Revolution Brasil and the reNature Foundation believe that fashion has the power to inspire, communicate and transform. Let’s use this force together for the regeneration of the Amazon?