Hope for a More Sustainable Future in Fashion in Kosovo!

Ever since she was a little girl, Hana Zeqa dreamt of becoming a world-famous designer. And not just any kind of designer. She wanted to fashion clothes and save the Planet at the same time. Organic and natural fibers such as cotton, linen, hemp, bamboo etc. which are gentle toward the Planet and are more environmentally friendly. During the process of selection of textiles, a designer should always be mindful of the durability and find a balance between what the garment requires and what the planet demands. 

Fashion design in Kosovo is more like of a follow up of social media trends, whereas fashion industry as such does not exist yet nor does it have a specific character or style to go by. The fact that you can now study this field in Kosovo, though, is a promising fact, enabling youth to learn about style, the fashion social context and philosophy, as well as to understand that fashion means more than just a beautiful dress and that is what we need more for this sector to develop: local, independent brands, everyday wear that uses local resources and is a great export channel to put Kosovo on the map. 

For Hana, sustainable fashion design is more than design itself: “Sustainable fashion design is the alternative approach in making, producing, and manufacturing clothes with minimal impact on environment, along with the global call to save the planet. It comes as an emergency; from the fact the fashion industry is second biggest polluter in the world with heavy carbon footprint .”

In 2018 Hana Zeqa returned from London where she finished her MA for Costume Design, researching for interactive garments and fashion wearable technology, which subsequently expanded in areas of sustainability. Her Studio, which is now a small workshop, was focused on research based conceptual tech garments/prototypes and then the segment of every-day wear was added in the context of slow fashion that shaped the business into a brand, local brand.

Taking the environment into consideration, Hana says: “The environment topic has been going on for quite some time and I like that, but I still feel we have not used fully all the channels to promote it rightfully and create a system of living where we support it every day through different aspects, not just fashion. Again, I am glad that there are businesses very much built around this purpose and that gives me hope that we are slowly joining the global effort to save the planet”.

“Sustainable fashion design is not yet highly profitable anywhere in the world really, so in Kosovo is even less. It is also a new concept to which people are being introduced. However, young people who follow social media are more aware with the world trends. There is an increasing number of thrift shops in Kosovo that are selling used clothes online, which is another aspect of sustainable fashion – to reuse clothes and give them another lifecycle which means, you do not have to consume more OR throw away more, but rather you repurpose these clothes and you minimize the textile footprint”. 

Hana understands the fact that organic fibers have another specific production process that is costly and have not yet reached Kosovo market to be available for buyers. However, another way for her to support sustainable fashion is by repurposing textiles waste or using cautiously even synthetic fibers if their lifecycle impact is minimal.

Hana is one of the several fashion designers and entrepreneurs in Kosovo who are in a mission to rethink fashion, from fabric selection, to coloring, as well up cycling, and reselling of clothes. UNDP Kosovo is bringing together four of these designers (Hana, Krenare Rugova, Nikki Murseli and Vesa Salihu) for a conversation on what a sustainable future of fashion could be and where Kosovo fits in it. The conversation if part of a series of events organized during the Kosovo Earth Days- a campaign lead by UNDP in cooperation with UN Habitat, UN Kosovo Team and Innovation Center Kosovo. The objective of the campaign is to motivate a regenerative development in Kosovo.  

UNDP’s cooperation with Hana and the sustainable fashion community in Kosovo is getting started, with the vision of shaping a future Kosovo fashion industry which thrives for a better balance between people and the planet.

For UNDP, working with high impact industries such as that of fashion, and engaging with it in driving respect for the planetary boundaries, is of high importance. Consumers globally are realizing that the Earth is in danger and they do not need to compromise with that. Designers - big and small - can influence, not only which colors, shapes, or silhouettes will be fashionable, but also in what is important and what is not. We are all champions of our own “brands” and Hana Zeqa is one of the most vocal champions in showing what the sustainable fashion design can offer. This way of production also leads to reduced waste - and here we come to a magical circle of environmental sustainability.