Where Recycling Meets Podium
The last teacher and training activity of the Eco-fashion project (Erasmus+ KA210-SCH-DE4EE9A8) took place in Paris, in France, from the 10th to the 14th of November 2025. The title of this training that lasted for a whole week was: “Where Recycling Meets Podium: Eco-Fashion’s Creative Renaissance”. It was hosted by Lycée Paul Poiret in their beautiful and spacious premises in the heart of Paris. All partners who travelled to Paris participated with two teachers and two students; Eurospeak from Ireland, L’Istituto “Concetto Marchesi” from Italy, Compañía de María de Granada from Spain and Mehmetcik Anadolu Lisesi from Türkiye. Needless to mention that the host participated with many more teachers and students.
Getting into the fashion world
From the very first day, participants had the chance to get into the fashion world. The distinguished teachers of Lycée Paul Poiret shared their expertise and knowledge with all participants and experienced its creative renaissance, where tradition meets innovation. A guide into the school’s premises gave an insightful understanding of how someone can produce a piece of clothing from scratch. Starting traditionally from a patron making a design or more modern on a computer, continuing with the fabrics, their combination and their style, moving on to sewing machines and then trying it for the first time on mannequins, continuing with modifications, cleaning and final ironing, until presenting it on fashion shows, many people with different expertise are involved. Lycée Paul Poiret also offers courses for the technicians who deal with the sound, the music and the lighting of a fashion show.
Interesting workshops
Towards the end of the first day, students were involved in a creative “teddy-bear” workshop! Under the guidance of the teachers, Fatou and Ikram, students learnt how to create from scratch little teddy bears. Teachers, on the other hand, took part in a heart pillow-making workshop that provided them with plenty of knowledge on how to sew properly, iron with professional iron machines and eventually create their own hearts. The teachers learnt about October’s heart pillow, which is used as a therapeutic tool by women who face breast cancer. Starting from scratch under the guidance of Inés, all teachers learnt how to sew on a sewing machine, how to prepare the fabric, how to iron it, how to prepare it for sewing and how to iron it for the 2nd time before turning it inside-out to create the pillow.
On Thursday, after lunch, students participated in a workshop on the first steps in clothing recycling: receiving, sorting, stain removal, washing and ironing clothes for students. They learnt a lot about dry cleaning.
Presentations by the students
On the days that followed, presentations that had to do with fashion were presented by the partners’ students. The host’s students delivered a presentation on “Sustainable legislation in France”, the students from Italy focused on “Recycling Italy”, the students from Ireland delivered a presentation titled: “Recycling of Clothing and Textiles in Dublin: Legal Framework & Practical Implementation”, the students from Türkiye highlighted the importance of Recycling in their country and finally the students from Spain talked about recycling in Spain. All students involved in the preparation of those presentations had the opportunity to learn more about sustainable fashion and, of course, to practice their English as all presentations were delivered in English.
Cultural activities
On Tuesday, the 11th of November 2025, participants started the day off at the Notre Dame Cathedral. They saw the French soldiers on horses parading near the Notre Dame area. After visiting the Notre Dame cathédrale, they headed to « Ile de la cité ». There, they learned about the history of Paris and the concierge. A small coffee break followed, where everyone could sit and talk and taste the famous French « croissant ». After lunch, they went to the Sorbonne University, which is one of the greatest universities in the world. Then they visited the Pantheon before heading to the Luxembourg Garden to relax and enjoy the sun. That day ended with a boat trip around Paris. On the boat, they had dived deep into the history of Paris and its origin. The view at night was obviously the Eiffel Tower, which was scintillating as they went by it.
On Wednesday morning, participants visited Saint Pierre’s market in the area of Montmartre. They got in various shops that had all kinds of textiles, such as those for linen, for cushions, for curtains, for jeans, for jackets & their inside, for everyday clothes, for more formal ones, for suits and elegant dresses. Different colours, different styles, various textures of fabrics and thousands of accessories and tools needed for sewing. In the evening, participants visited the Sacred Heart Basilica with its spectacular view and then saw the artists on the streets who were painting ” live ” and were drawing portraits of persons sitting in front of them upon request. The day closed with a visit to the “Blue Tango” atelier. These participants listened to the first-hand experience about eco-responsible fashion and its production. The last stop was at “Galleries Lafayette” where it was especially decorated for Christmas. So much different knowledge gained within a day about these parts of Paris and the history of textiles!
On Thursday morning, all participants visited the exhibition of Rick Owens titled: “The temple of love” at Gallierra Palace, and in the evening they visited the exhibition of MAD titled: “Paul Poiret, fashion is the party.”
Several times, both students and teachers enjoyed common lunch or dinner in various places in Paris that enabled them to know each other better and bond together.
Inspiring session
Before leaving the school for the cultural activities, on Wednesday (12/11/2025) morning, participants visited a classroom in the host’s school where students showed them what clothes they created from recycling materials, such as a dress from a parachute, a 2nd hand blazer “upgraded” with newly added elements. They had the chance to directly pose questions to those students and their teacher and get answers on sustainable fashion issues, such as where they get those materials from, what their inspiration is, how they decide to combine the different fabrics and so on. That discussion was very informative!
Collaborative work
On the last day of the training, on Friday the 14th of November 2025, students and teachers from each partner organisation collaborated and put their inspiration on a banner where they drew their “take-aways” from this fascinating training week in Paris. The host, Lycée Paul Poiret, would have this banner as a “souvenir” decorating their school and reminding them of this week on Eco-Fashion‘s Creative Renaissance!
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