In Turin's outskirts, real poverty leaves many young people without opportunities. Alongside that social difficulty sits an environmental one: textile waste keeps growing, and only a small share of it is properly separated for recycling. That waste sits uncomfortably alongside the reality of thousands of local residents who struggle to access warm, dignified, quality clothing.
Textile waste piling up pollutes the environment, while Abito, the free clothing shop this project supports, already serves a large number of people each year who need clothes, a third of them children. Bringing these two challenges together, letting young people get their hands dirty tackling waste while giving the most fragile among them a way to socialise, learn and feel useful, and giving clothes to those who cannot afford them, addresses both at once.
The project
Young Green Heroes unites ecology and solidarity through youth empowerment. Students and vulnerable young people learn practical sewing and textile recycling skills, regenerating discarded clothing into something usable again, while children and young people who come to the emporio get to choose their own clothes freely and rebuild a sense of everyday normality.
The project rests on three ideas: dignity, welcoming each person into a real shop where choosing your own clothes for free means reclaiming something of your own identity; sustainability, reducing the environmental impact of textile waste by turning it into a resource through upcycling and fibre-to-fibre recycling; and participation, putting young people at the centre of caring for their own community.
Who the project is for
The project's direct beneficiaries include 1,100 minors who will receive clothing, 400 minors who will receive school materials, 30 people in vulnerable situations (due to disability or language barriers) taking part in the sewing and recycling workshops, and 50 students and young people volunteering actively in the project.
Project name: Abito - Young Green Heroes
Proposing organisation: ODV Società di San Vincenzo de Paoli Consiglio Centrale di Torino
Area of intervention: Inclusion & Social Development
Country: Italy