Pistoia students at sustainability school at the Lanificio Fratelli Balli

LAWN – “Do you know that 2,700 liters of water are needed to make a cotton t-shirt? In practice, one t-shirt consumes the water requirement of two and a half years of a human being.”

Thus begins, with a high-impact fact that effectively explains the damage caused to the environment by fast fashion, the sustainability lesson that the Lanificio Fratelli Balli organized for the 5th D class of the Galileo Galilei school in Pistoia.

A visit to the Fabbricone Storico imagined to achieve three objectives towards the consumers of tomorrow: telling the history and peculiarities of the wool district, explaining how a fabric is made up to the finished garment, and educating on responsible purchasing of clothes.

“A replicable module that we would also like to carry forward with other schools in the area and in the region – says Manuel Hoechel, member of the board of directors of Lanificio Fratelli Balli and speaker of the initiative -. Young people are the consumers of tomorrow, to whom the need for sustainability linked to clothing must be explained and told. It is essential to spread the concept of buying less but better. Just as there are civic education lessons, we believe that sustainability education lessons are also fundamental.”

The students had the opportunity to walk through the centuries-old history of the Fabbricone Storico, they learned about the ways in which the district reinvented itself and recovered after the war, they saw with their own eyes how a fabric is made and how a coat or in general an outerwear item arrives in their wardrobes. Finally, the lesson on the damage of fast fashion and how to reduce the impact of the textile industry on the environment.

“I must say that the meeting was truly exciting – continues Hoechel -. The children were impressed by the workshop and followed with great attention all the examples of negative impact on the environment resulting from excessive carelessness in purchasing clothing. We are also sure that these examples were also brought back home, to their parents, thus helping us to spread the concepts of sustainability that distinguish the Prato district even among the older ones. We will now organize new meetings with schools in the coming months too. We want to make our contribution to spreading the concepts of environmental sustainability.”