I’m A Girly, creator of innovative and highly coveted fashion dolls worldwide, is collaborating with upcycling fashion brand The R Collective to create the world’s first sustainable and upcycled clothing collection for dolls. The program will use excess fabric from the fast fashion industry to draw attention to waste in both the fashion and toy industries furthering I’m A Girly’s mission is to create ‘sustainability with style.
The fashion industry is one of the biggest polluters, currently accounting for 10% of CO2 emissions1. Of 100 billion new garments produced each year, around 73% of which will be landfilled within one year2. Brands are sitting on unsold fabric inventories that they no longer use themselves. The sustainable fashion advocate Christina Dean took on this problem and in 2007 founded the non-profit environmental organization Redress and, with it, the fashion brand The R Collective, which collects the enormous textile overstocks of luxury fashion brands and brings them back into circulation through selected partners.
In the toy industry, things are no better in relation; 120 thousand new products are launched every year3, 80% end up in landfills and 90% of them are made of plastic4. “We are aware of the problems our industry is facing and are working every day to improve the situation. For example, our latest line of dolls is made of recycled materials,” explains CEO and founder Theresia Le Battistini. “And to ensure our production is relevant to our target group and to prevent overproduction, all products are directly co-designed by our audience, the children,” Le Battistini adds.
Now, the two forces of the fashion and toy industries are coming together to fight waste in their respective industries. I’m A Girly will partner with The R Collective to launch the world’s first sustainable fashion collection for dolls made of upcycled fabric leftovers from luxury fashion brands. “We are excited about the collaboration with I’m A Girly. Especially because here we bring two worlds together and translate our mission – to create a more sustainable fashion industry – in a creative and collaborative way, whilst also inspiring the next generation of young fashion consumers,” explains Christina Dean, Founder and CEO of The R Collective. “This collaboration is an exciting step for all of us in the right direction,” adds Le Battistini.
Early this spring, the toy manufacturer will launch a global design contest on social media, among other sites, to encourage children around the world to get creative and send in designs for the sustainable doll collection. A mixed jury of The R Collective designers, the I’m A Girly Kids4Kids design team and an international fashion influencer will select the winning designs from all the entries. The chosen designs will be included in the collection and launched in stores.
Having successfully entered the North American and Chinese markets, including Target, Amazon, and Tmall last fall, the brand’s fashion dolls and styling heads are now available outside Europe as well. Celebrated by the kid next door to such stars as the Beckhams, the Ecclestones and Kim Kardashian’s stylist, the young company from Zurich is on course to expand and innovate with its latest project to show the world that they are more than just a doll brand.