"BACKGROUND AND RELEVANCE OF THE PROJECT:Plastic avoidance is an essential part of climate and environmental protection, as the ""european strategy for plastics"" shows. The goals are the substantial reduction of plastics and microplastics in all areas. While the reduction of plastic packaging is directly visible in one's own waste volume and there are alternatives, the role of clothing in the plastics problem is largely unknown. Especially cheap textiles are mostly made of synthetic materials, i.e. plastics. Due to a short service life and abrasion during washing, large quantities of plastic and microplastic are produced. Clothing alone accounts for 35% of the microplastics generated by washing synthetic materials (IUCN, 2017). A city with 100,000 inhabitants emits microfibres equivalent to 15,000 plastic bags every day by washing them into the water (Hartline et al. 2016). . In addition, fashion chains often destroy cheap synthetic garments, often by burning them, as it is more cost-effective for them. Due to rapidly changing trends and changing clothing sizes (growth), the target group of young people in particular buys a large number of synthetic garments at low prices. PROJECT OBJECTIVES:- Raising young people's awareness of plastics in clothing throughout the entire product life cycle - To develop alternatives for an environmentally conscious and yet affordable way of dealing with fashion- To train peer guides and youth workers in order to achieve the widest possible dissemination of the project results beyond the duration of the project. ACTIVITIES AND METHODOLOGYYoung people will be included at all stages of the project.In O1 focus group interviews take place, which allow a problem exploration from the point of view of the young people, in order to know the problem awareness and the requirements for solutions of the young people. A research and best practice collection provides the basis for further solutions and gives an overview of country-specific differences. In O2, learning materials are developed that provide an educational basis for a sustainable approach to clothing. The content is designed to be competence-oriented and didactically geared to young people and made accessible via a state-of-the-art e-learning platform. In order to develop concrete alternatives for action, in O3 Design Thinking workshops will be organized. The best ideas are recorded in Setcard format. A guide for the training of peer guides and youth workers will be developed to disseminate results as widely as possible, all documents will be put together on a resource toolbox website. In order to make the acquired knowledge tangible and to further develop practical solutions for sustainable clothing, a haptic toolbox will be assembled in O4. NUMBER AND PROFILE OF PARTICIPANTSWe invite young people and youth workers from AT, PL, LT and IT to actively participate. In particular, young people with cultural differences, economic or geographical obstacles are involved. In total 48 young people and 8 youth workers from 4 project countries will participate in 2 LTT events.RESULTSAre available Europe-wide, with unlimited acess in 5 languages (EN, DE, LT, PL, IT). Most important results are:- Report from the results of the focus group interviews on problem exploration and research in the project countries.- A best practice collection with instructions for existing alternatives for plastic avoidance in clothing- Learning material in printable and digital form: 4 units of min. 15 pages each- 8 SetCards (min.) illustrating alternatives for action developed in workshops as digital and analog resources- A resource toolbox website that provides all information in the areas of INFORMATION/EDUCATION/ACTION ALTERNATIVES/MATERIAL FOR PEER GUIDES AND YOUTH WORKERS- A haptic toolbox with materials that can be practically used to avoid plastic in clothing (e.g. upcycling material, wash bags, fabric samples). This results in a combination of digital knowledge and real experience.IMPACTS AND LONG-TERM BENEFITSWear(e)able not only offers awareness-raising and know-how for young people in the sustainable use of clothing, but also concentrates on concrete alternatives for action. Contents are conveyed digitally and analogously and the training of peer guides, youth workers and other multipliers is a focal point of the project. A special focus is on the long-term and broad dissemination of the results on a local, national and international level. To this end, we make use of the broad network of the consortium, including youth organisations, environmental protection initiatives, municipalities, schools and other stakeholders. The open source access to all project outputs will be guaranteed for at least 5 years after project end. Our aimed impact is to initiate a broad debate on plastic in clothing and the fast fashion phenomenon, and to equip as many young people as possible with the tools to contribute to this development."