Greening the Fashion Industry

Green entrepreneurship and innovation in the field of fashion are on top of the agenda of DEDI Green Gate 2022. We had the privilege of receiving almost 100 applications and after many a difficult choice, we shared the good news of them being selected with 23 amazing young people.

By Agnete Flyger

The fashion industry is one of the industries responsible for the highest annual emission of carbon globally, as much as 8-10 pct. Promoting solutions and fostering collaboration to reduce emission are the main aims of Green Gate 2022. The 23 participants have already taken steps toward these aims, be it using eco-friendly raw materials, upcycling, increasing the longevity of products by reusing or organizing big scale second-hand usage, and advocating for slow fashion.

In May, the Danish and the Egyptian held their first local meetings and got a first glimpse of each other online. Now, we are warming up to the first international workshop in Denmark in the beginning of August and are happy to introduce all 23 participants.

Abdelkader Mohamed Elkhaligi
Abdelkader Mohamed Elkhaligi is one of the co-founders and the product development director of Banlastic Egypt. Banlastic is a social enterprise aiming for a national ban on single plastic use in Egypt. As a product developer, sustainable fashion is automatically a part of Abdelkader’s work, and last year Banlastic initiated a project responsible for upcycling different types of textiles to make useful products such as laptop sleeves, pencil cases, and tote bags. Abdelkader is from Alexandria, Egypt where he received his bachelor’s degree in business administration in 2019.

Tanja Gotthardsen
Tanja Gotthardsen is an independent consultant, researcher, speaker, and activist in the domain of fashion and sustainability. She has a background in conflict research and human rights but started her own company five years ago to inform consumers about the consequences of fast fashion. Since then, she has also started working as a consultant, guiding brands on how to improve their social and environmental responsibility. Furthermore, she is a guest teacher at several Danish universities, a public speaker and works with a variety of organizations such as the Danish Independent Consumer Council, Clean Clothes Campaign, and Fashion Revolution International.

Youssef Mohamed Anwar
Youssef Mohamed Anwar lives in Cairo, where he works as an administrative manager in his family business. He is an architecture graduate and while working in the family business, he is also working on starting his own sneakers brand. In 2019 Youssef began working on footwear design and one of the main challenges he found while trying to design sneakers has been sourcing textiles and materials that are eco-friendly. Youssef’s goal is to create attractive and sustainably created textiles, raw materials, and accessories for his upcoming sneakers.

Linda Nyvang
Linda Nyvang is a textile designer and artist, studying at the Royal Danish Academy specializing in weaving and print design. With a passion for color and materials, she creates textile objects in a small and large scale. She explores handwoven techniques with a focus on an energetic color scheme. Valuing craftsmanship and allowing the materials to be the main character, creates a space to explore different materials, and therefore nothing is just waste. Linda is currently on her master’s degree and for her thesis, she would love to work further with weaving with a focus on waste materials to give them new qualities and expand their lifespan.

Basma Tawakol
Basma Tawakol calls herself a start-up enthusiast and impact-driver. She has been working with start-ups for almost 12 years and holds an MA in entrepreneurship and innovation management. Her graduation project was focusing on turning waste into something usable. This led her to start Dayra, an online platform for buying and selling pre-owned clothes of the best quality with careful consideration of the social responsibility. At Dayra, they focus on promoting a zero-waste culture, which means that even clothes with defects are sent to their fashion designer partners for upcycling.

Trine Skoedt
Trine Skoedt is a trained textile designer and junior researcher. She holds a bachelor’s degree in textile design, handcrafts, and communication and a master’s degree in strategic design and entrepreneurship. Currently, she is assisting with research related to sustainable fashion and textile production at the Southern University of Denmark and the Royal Danish Academy, while applying for funds for a Ph.D. centered around how to use traditional textile crafts in innovative business models.

Khadija Mostafa Hossameldin
Khadija Mostafa Hossameldin is a visual artist and designer. She is the founder of the brand Dija Mo. It is an ethnic, contemporary, and sustainable fashion brand in which she makes designs inspired by the Egyptian heritage in a contemporary and modern way. The core of Dija Mo is sustainability. Khadija uses sustainable fabric, techniques, and materials in her design utilizing natural fabrics and leftover scraps from the textile manufacturing industry to make new designs. The idea is to make low quantities in high quality because she believes that this is the future of fashion: Reducing the environmental footprints as well as consumption through slow fashion.

Lone Mette Munk and Jeannette Loua
Lone Mette Munk and Jeanette Loua studied together and earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the Royal Academy in Copenhagen. After university, they decided to open their own design studio, MUNK&LOUA, centered around social and sustainable responsibility, through the production of textiles. Their latest project RE-TEX explores how to recycle the increasing amount of textile waste in Ghana, due to donated clothes from the West, with the use of filting. They are also exploring the possibility of collaborating with Danish brands, in order to recycle their post-production waste. They are currently facilitating a series of design workshops for female artisans in the MENA region, in collaboration with the Royal Academy and Oxfam IBIS.

Haidy Elgendy
Cairo-based Haidy Elgendy is the CEO and founder of Cotton Town, a B2B marketplace for pure Egyptian cotton. Engaging the full chain from farming to fashion, they gather all the stakeholders that are related to Egyptian cotton on one platform for pure Egyptian cotton. As Haidy Elgendy says, “Cotton town is a digital transformation for pure cotton in Egypt”. Elgendy is a graduate of the faculty of commerce, Ayn Shams University, and an MBA holder.

Sofie Winther
Sofie Winther holds a bachelor’s degree in fashion design and has worked as a designer for some of the largest fast-fashion companies for several years. With a wish of working full-time on sustainability in the fashion and textile industry, she decided to pursue a master’s in design management. In her thesis, she decided to create tools to increase the longevity of garments. By collaborating with midtVask, which washes all textiles from Danish hospitals in middle Jutland, she created a bridge between the theoretical ideas of academia and the practical needs of companies.

Norhan Elsakkout
Norhan Elsakkout is the founder and creative director of the slow fashion brand Saqhoute. Saqhoute is an ethical fashion brand in Egypt that offers women’s ready-to-wear that is highly versatile in order to help women in Egypt and across the globe to take their garments from day to night, building on the concept of the capsule wardrobe. The brand is built on the pillars of circular economy, zero waste, and slow fashion, and as Norhan says herself about her brand, “we are always aiming at telling hidden stories of Egyptian heritage and culture, that are not very well known to the public, through the use of our design and intricate hand embroidery on our garments.”  She comes from a background in finance and fine arts and decided to take it further by doing an MA in creative and cultural entrepreneurship, focusing on sustainable fashion at Goldsmiths, University of London.

Julia Veres
Julia Veres is originally from Hungary but moved to Denmark ten years ago to study fashion and design. After finishing her bachelor’s at Copenhagen School of Design and Technology, she worked at different brands without focusing on sustainability. However, this soon led her to embark on a master’s in sustainable leadership and management, while simultaneously working as a design- and production manager at Kintobe, a brand producing sustainable bags.

Ahmed Khedr
Ahmed Khedr is the founder of K44, a sustainable resort wear brand for men and boys. Prior to launching his brand, he worked for 12 years in the tech industry between sales operation and account management. Being passionate about starting his own swim shorts line, Ahmed was surprised to realize the environmental impact and the working conditions in the industry. So, Ahmed decided from day one that he wanted his brand to be sustainable and ethical. Last summer, he launched his first line of swimwear made from recycled plastic bottles. For now, they are using recycled fabric from abroad, but the goal is that it can be produced locally in Egypt soon. Hopefully, a brand like K44 will encourage more Egyptian brands to use more sustainable materials under sustainable working conditions.

Anna Kjaersgaard Poulsen
Copenhagen-based Anna is studying at Aalborg University to become a sustainable design engineer. Here, she is also attending an entrepreneurship program, where she is focused on creating sustainable footwear that fits well and is highly durable by combing new technologies with traditional craftsmanship. Her interest in sustainability and fashion comes from her work at H&M and & Other Stories, where she hopes to be part of reshaping the fashion industry.

Ahmed Shahin
Cairo-based Ahmed Shahin is a product designer and co-founder of Noon Leather Handcraft. He is a graduate of the faculty of applied arts, a degree which helped him realize his talent. His start-up Noon Leather Handicraft is an authentic brand for sustainable fashion made from natural leather. All of the materials used are natural and the production process depends on craft tools and talented hands. He started Noon Leather Handcraft because in his opinion, shopping handmade is more artistic and unique, and supporting trades that have survived through centuries is definitely sustainable. Their focus is on creating job opportunities and teaching crafts to women in Fustat (Old Cairo).

Helene Lane Hsu
Helene Lane Hsu has a background in business and sociology, and is currently the sustainable manager at VAER, an upcycling shoe brand. Furthermore, she works as the project manager at the NGO Re:Wair, where she was part of the founding team back in 2020.  ReWair has a mission of fighting textile waste and giving new life to old garments. With a big part of youth suffering from climate anxiety, Re:Wair also focuses on community building by empowering youth with tools so they are able to act.

Menna Remah
Menna Remah is a fashion designer, pattern maker and founder of Menna Remah Couture, for evening dresses which soon enough expanded to her second brand Menna Remah ReadyToWear, where fashion meets sustainability. She has a bachelor’s degree in Marine Sciences and Biotechnology. She’s a certified Digital Marketeer and Content Creator. Menna has participated in several courses presented by reputable platforms such as The Museum of Modern Art, University of Bocconi and University of California in fashion design. She is also a freelance fashion design instructor for art students and start-ups.

Ioana Ileana Opris
Aarhus-based Ioana Ileana Opris holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering, innovation, and entrepreneurship. In July 2021 she started NORDKONCEPT. Here she makes module clothing offering the consumer many new possibilities for usage, while at the same time integrating a circular system to return the clothing.

Salma Ellakany
Salma Ellakany works on product development at VeryNile. The initiative began in 2018 and works on cleaning the Nile, recycling and upcycling solid waste, and empowering local communities. Working with volunteers and local fishermen, the collected plastic waste is compressed and transformed into yarn. Afterward, it is exported to be used in car seats and other furniture companies.

Read more from DEDI: 

Reshaping the fashion industry

A Sustainable Collaboration

Greening Cairo