The two-world concept of the campaign compares the foreseeable implications of the industry’s passivity with society’s ideal in a provocative manner. An appeal to the textile industry and brand partners to radically change their mindsets – and to each and every individual consumer to demand this of every purchase.
80 billion pieces of clothes are bought every year, twice as much as 15 years ago; 23 billion pairs of shoes are produced annually. The textile industry already generates more harmful CO2 than the entire air and ship traffic as a whole – and approaches a 20% share. As a consequence of our long-standing ignorance and passivity concerning an effective recycling cycle, more plastic than fish could swim in the sea by 2050. By means of this and other hard facts of recent industry analyses1 and the call “Make a conscious choice with your purchase and change the future of the world”, this Sympatex campaign aims at informing, awaking and increasing the awareness of industry and brand partners, customers as well as consumers to take radical reforms. The campaign was launched at the OutDoor trade fair in Friedrichshafen 2018 and was marketed in different print magazines and on digital platforms in the expert and consumer fields at national and international level.
Campaign concept plays with shock effect
Each of the different campaign motives shares the same principle and thus guarantees a value of brand recognition: the main image bluntly reveals a world not worth living in that will be future of us and our children if we do not take action immediately. Mountains of plastic waste, eroded landscapes, droughts or species extinction demonstrate massive environmental pollution, caused by humans and their predatory exploitation of nature. As opposed to this, a similar landscape is displayed in the front showing an unspoiled world which we strive for and will be able to preserve if we decide to develop clothes in a consistently sustainable manner.
Performance meets sustainability – already possible today
Consumers can choose already today environmentally friendly, climate-neutral and recycled clothes and shoes – without having to accept any compromise on performance. Sympatex proved this by means of several lighthouse projects last year. The “It’s in your hands” claim is supported by the figurative language of a human hand holding the “unspoiled world” image. The Polaroid frame and its retro features underline this statement in addition. If we don’t close the textile loop soon with joined forces and thus don’t only prevent additional waste and chemicals, but also save precious resources, such as crude oil and water as well as balance CO2 emissions, such a nature will be a thing of the past. The overall “Join us to close the loop” claim shall address everyone: consumers, customers and brand partners as well as competitors.
“We all have got a little president on our shoulders trying to talk us into believing that we don’t have to act and already do it right – it’s the others who are responsible. But if we sum up the figures the clothing and shoe industries are responsible for all over the world, it becomes apparent that there are only two ways: either backwards back into the cave – or forward into a consistent cycle of material usage”, Dr. Rüdiger Fox, CEO of Sympatex Technologies GmbH, concludes. “If we take this step together, then we will have the right balance again; just like nature has always shown us – since nature doesn’t know waste.”
Sympatex together with SotaMedia from Munich have created and implemented the campaign.
INFO: Sympatex
