FTHE Swedish government is seeking to raise awareness on sustainability in consumerism as it pushes for efforts to combat environmental challenges.

Swedish Ambassador to the Philippines Harald Fries said Swedish companies operating in the Philippines have brought sustainable business models that promote environment-concerned initiatives.

“This is one way that our embassy is contributing to sustainability by creating more awareness and more knowledge about the issues on environmental protection and climate change,” Fries said.

The Swedish embassy was also looking at pushing responsible and sustainable consumerism among local businesses.

“We have many Swedish companies operating in the Philippines and they bring with them many years of experience and sustainable business models so when they come here, they show the country how distribution, design and manufacturing can be done in a more sustainable way than it has been for a long time,” he said.

The Embassy of Sweden in Manila launched the provincial leg of an exhibition dubbed as “Fashion Revolution: The Future of Textiles” at the SM City Cebu.

The exhibition aims to highlight Sweden’s role in promoting sustainability in fashion, one of the most polluting industries of the world.

“They (companies) are very creative in finding ways to operate more sustainably. For instance, they offer the customer to bring back their used clothes so they can recycle the used clothes and they even start to rent clothes,” he said.

He said second-hand stores are becoming popular in Sweden as consumers become more aware of what they can do to lessen the effects of the products they buy to nature.

The fashion exhibit is participated in by famous Swedish brands, clothing retailer H&M and baby product maker BabyBjorn.

The exhibition also featured Cebu-based fashion brand Anthill Fabric and Textile’s special zero waste collection called “Pamana,” woven by Argao weavers using recycled cloth.

The global population is estimated to consume about 62 million tonnes of clothes per year, and only 20 percent of that is recycled. JOB