Atendees during the discussion;
Credit: Ali Sahib, Chronicle.lu
On Friday 16 January 2026, Lët'z Refashion, a sustainable fashion pop-up and workshop space in Luxembourg, hosted an upcycling workshop and a round table discussion about sustainable fashion in Luxembourg and Europe.
Organised by the European Parliament Liaison Office, in cooperation with Lëtz’Refashion, the thematic late afternoon event was dedicated to sustainable fashion, upcycling and European policies against textile waste.
The programme opened with a workshop where, given help by a professional seamstress, attendees created a personalised tote bag in less than one hour from the provided materials.
Talking with Chronicle.lu, Hannah Lam, Partnerships Manager at Lët’z Refashion, explained that the workshop focuses on sustainability and creativity by reusing 1,300 donated tote bags that a company could no longer use after changing its logo, encouraging participants to cover the old branding.
Participants customised the tote bags using textile scraps, buttons, needles, thread and other accessories, while two young attendees, Jill and Pascale, chose fabric markers to write song lyrics on their bags.
Speaking with Chronicle.lu, they said that they enjoyed the creative atmosphere and hands-on activity, describing the evening as welcoming and relaxed.
The second part of the event, with a discussion themed “Fighting textile waste: towards more sustainable fashion in Luxembourg and Europe”, brought more attendees, totalling around 20 people.
The discussion took place right in the middle of the clothes stands, on vintage chairs and sofas, featuring Luxembourg MEP Tilly Metz (The Greens - Déi Gréng), Sophie Segercrantz, Communications Manager at Friendship Colours of the Chars sarl, Rabea Effelsberg, Public Relations Officer at the European Parliament, and Hannah Lam.
Tilly Metz highlighted the scale of textile consumption and waste in the European Union (EU), noting that the most recent data, published in 2022, showed that EU citizens bought more than six million tonnes of textiles that year, while only 1% entered recycling streams and around five million tonnes of clothing were discarded each year. She also pointed out that exports of used textiles increased from 1.45 million tonnes in 2008 to 1.73 million tonnes in 2022, mainly sent to countries such as Pakistan, India and several African states, including Ghana.
Other topics raised during the discussion included the fact that, on average, each European throws away twelve kilograms of clothing and footwear per year. The speakers also noted that consumers continue to buy increasing amounts of clothing, with one resident in Luxembourg purchasing an average of 54 new garments per year, while fast fashion production consumes significant resources such as water, energy and raw materials.
