Irina Ilieva is the currently acting CEO of Junior Achievement Bulgaria. She leads a dynamic organization that inspires and prepares young people to succeed in the global economy. With over 10 years of experience in program and project management, Irina Ilieva has coordinated diverse teams in multicultural environments, delivering high-impact initiatives in education, technology, and social innovation. She gave an interview to Cantarelli at the Business Lady Excellence Annual Awards 2024.
"We are the local branch of one of the biggest youth-serving international organizations that is focusing on education. And one of the main topics that we focus on, in our work with young entrepreneurs, is related to circular economy.
It is a very well-known fact that fast fashion is one of the biggest polluters on the planet.
This is part of some of the programs that we address related to doing business in an ecological and environmentally friendly way. On one hand side and on the other hand side, young people must understand that creating a startup does not need to only bring economic value to you, but also create solutions for challenges like fast fashion.
Pollution in the environment well, of course, as I mentioned before, it is a very well-known fact that worldwide, fast fashion has become one of the biggest challenges related to waste management, related to polluting the environments that we live in, including the water systems that we're using.
So this is one of the things that fast fashion has been contributing to on a global scale.
A lot of the fast fashion brands are producing their goods in third countries.
So a lot of these places don't meet the requirements for ethical employment of their employees, of the conditions in which humans that work in those factories need to produce that fashion.
And also, it's not to underestimate the fact that transport contributes to global pollution as well.
So if we produce a piece of garment like what I'm wearing right now, my dress, for example, in a country in Africa, the transport cost and the additional carbon footprint that we have by producing a single piece of garment that is going to come to Bulgaria, would go to Germany or Austria, is much higher.
So of course, this is one of the reasons why we need to think when we're talking about fast fashion, what is the impact of what we're doing, not only price-wise, in the end, garments, not only, everybody's going to end up being dressed the same way, which for every woman, of course, it's a big deal. But it's also to think about, how doing business in the way we do currently actually affects our world.
Well, my message towards brand owners on the one hand and to users would be very similar. And it's to think how every decision that we take today impacts our tomorrow, because these decisions are very often related to the way we consume things, the way we make decisions that are related to our needs and to our wishes.
And since we're here in the Business Lady Excellence Forum, we have to address this from the business perspective. As well. There are a lot of women, but not only women in the world, who are interested in creating their own brand fashion.
One of the main things that is like, on a global scale, also impacting the way we do business is that they have to be complying with the ESG regulations that are related to environment, social and governance.
And they're touching upon exactly what we were talking about, how goods are produced. This includes fashion, and how the materials that we use to produce a certain garment actually have come to our studio.
For example, if you're an entrepreneur who is creating their own small fashion brand, what are the materials you're using, and where do these fabrics come from?
And how are the pieces of garments then sold to the end user?
Well, I would like to challenge each of us to maybe do one small thing, go inside our wardrobes and maybe try to think and to see what was the root of every piece of garment that we own.
Maybe our favourite piece of clothing, but maybe also that faraway one that is deep inside our cupboard and we have forgotten that we own.
And to realize what our own wardrobe is impacting towards the environment, concluded Irina Ilieva. /BGNES