So far the association has worked mainly on awareness, through talks, home gatherings, workshops and one-of-a-kind vintage events.
Dolab is an online vintage shop, the first of its kind in Arab society, selling special vintage pieces chosen to suit the taste of Arab society.
We hold Dolab events in Arab towns and villages. People come especially to see the selection, and along the way we talk about climate and the environment and present vintage as a sustainable alternative.
A field survey we carried out also found that this is the best way to break down emotional barriers towards used clothing.
Mandil organises clothing-swap parties among groups of women who know one another. Many women don’t like wearing clothes that belonged to women they don’t know, and this is an excellent way around that barrier to second-hand clothing.
These events also include raising environmental awareness and an open conversation about why buying fewer new clothes matters, the alternatives that exist, and the main barriers to wearing second-hand.
Mandil has initiated a number of bazaars in several areas in the north, aimed at introducing women to alternatives to buying new clothes.
The prevailing view in Arab society today is that second-hand clothes are worn out and unfit for use. Bazaars accompanied by signs about the air pollution caused by fast-fashion production are meant to break many deep-rooted ideas about the second-hand clothing market.
Bazaars like these will continue to take place across the country, and you can follow the details on our social media pages.
Blouzati (“my blouse”) is an initiative of workshops for renewing and recycling clothes that are no longer in use, aimed at children, girls and women.
The workshops have two parts: an informative part about the scale of pollution caused by the fashion industry, and a hands-on part working with worn-out clothes, giving participants tools and broadening their sense of what can be done with clothes that are no longer worn.
Participants learn to change a damaged garment – to mend it or turn it into something else – with a focus on one item of clothing, the pollution it causes and the natural resources it consumes, so that it is easy to remember.
A series of awareness talks, part of the “Nata’aqlam” (“We Adapt”) project initiated by the Jerusalem Municipality’s sustainability unit. More than 30 talks were given to tenth-grade students and teachers’ rooms in schools in East Jerusalem.
A new experience: a “Fashion and Sustainability” workshop for Arab and Jewish women, held in two languages, initiated by the sustainability unit in Zarzir.
