The party's leader Mirela Holy said that the campaign was targeting the young, creative generation and women and that its purpose was to raise public awareness of the circular economy because this concept was not known in Croatia.
Holy invited young fashion designers to send photographs of their creations made from old, discarded clothing and material to the email address cirkularna_revija@orah.hr by June 25. She said that designers would have a chance to present their creations at a fashion show scheduled for July 2 and that the winner would get a sewing machine as a prize.
"In order for this entire concept to be fully sustainable and circular, the sewing machine is in excellent condition, but it's not new; it has been used. It's an industrial sewing machine that should enable the winner to create new value," Holy said. "We believe that there are excellent designers in Croatia and that their ideas should spearhead a new kind of economic development of the country," she added.
"The circular economy is a completely different concept because it imitates flows in nature and the eco system and nothing in it is waste. All materials are either reprocessed and new materials are made from them or products themselves are remade for a different purpose and products of more lasting values are made from them. A linear economy creates the need for buying new products whose shelf life is becoming shorter and shorter, while a circular economy promotes sustainable products of long-lasting value," Holy said.
The party has decided to promote the concept through the fashion industry first because it encourages consumerism.
The campaign manager, designer and stylist Tea Stankovic, said that designers were instructed to take a peek into their grandmother's wardrobe or second-hand clothes shops, and designer Ivana Popovic showed the "circular design" of her handbag and trousers.