HAPPENING 2 - 30 SEP '26 | A former Zara store at Alexandrium Shopping Center is becoming a temporary home for sustainable fashion throughout September. From 2 to 30 September, the Dutch Sustainable Fashion Experience Center brings together Rotterdam designers, workshops, styling sessions, pop-ups, live ateliers and an exhibition showing what a more conscious wardrobe can look like.
Admission to the Experience Center is free, so you can simply walk in while shopping at Alexandrium. Some individual workshops require advance registration or a small participation fee, with the programme changing throughout the month.
Fashion beyond buying something new
The Experience Center is part of the build-up to Dutch Sustainable Fashion Week, which returns to Rotterdam in October. Rather than treating sustainable fashion as one particular look or asking everyone to stop enjoying clothes, the project focuses on practical ways to make a wardrobe last longer.
That means repairing favourite clothes rather than replacing them, learning upcycling techniques, finding new combinations among pieces you already own and discovering designers and brands working with different approaches to materials and production.
Throughout September, the former Zara unit will host workshops covering clothing repair and creative upcycling, alongside styling sessions designed to show how fewer garments can produce more outfit combinations. Pop-up shops and live ateliers will give visitors a chance to meet designers and see how pieces are actually made.
There is also a Rotterdam Fashion Expo featuring work by local fashion talent. The programme varies from day to day, with the latest activities and reservation details being published through @dsfw.rotterdam on Instagram.
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Bring your old clothes
One of the more interesting parts of the project starts with something you may already have sitting unused at home. A textile collection point inside the Experience Center accepts unwanted clothing that Rotterdam designers can use to create new upcycled looks.
Those creations form part of a design competition, with visitors able to vote for their favourite. The designers are competing for a place on the runway during Dutch Sustainable Fashion Week in October. In other words, something that has reached the end of its useful life in one wardrobe could end up becoming part of an entirely different outfit.
The candidate designs will already be on display when the Experience Center opens. A free Dutch Sustainable Award final takes place on Saturday 19 September from 13:00 to 17:00, with the winner determined through a combination of jury assessment and a public vote. Entry to the final is free, although capacity is limited.
The wider programme also gets quite practical. One confirmed workshop on 13 September, for example, introduces sashiko and visible mending, using decorative stitching to repair damaged clothing rather than hiding the repair. Participants can bring an old garment and learn different stitching and darning techniques.
A September preview of fashion week
The Experience Center is designed as a month-long introduction to the ideas behind Dutch Sustainable Fashion Week. DSFW describes itself as the first Dutch fashion week specifically focused on making developments in sustainable fashion visible and accessible to a wider audience. (dsfw.nl)
Rotterdam plays a substantial role in this year's programme, with activities spread across the city in October. Expect fashion shows, workshops, talks, pop-ups, clothing swaps, repair sessions and projects involving local designers and retailers.
The Alexandrium project makes a sensible starting point because it puts that conversation directly inside a major shopping centre. Instead of discussing the problems of the fashion industry somewhere removed from the places where clothes are bought, it asks shoppers to consider repair, reuse and upcycling while they are already thinking about what to wear next.
There are also prize draws throughout September, with goodie bags, discounts at participating Alexandrium shops and tickets to selected Dutch Sustainable Fashion Week activities among the prizes.
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Visit the Experience Center
The Dutch Sustainable Fashion Experience Center runs from 2 to 30 September 2026 in the former Zara premises at Alexandrium Shopping Center. The exhibition itself is free.
Current event listings give the regular public opening hours as Wednesday to Sunday from 12:00 to 17:00. Some workshops and special sessions can take place at different times, so check the current programme before travelling specifically for an activity.
The latest programme is available through @dsfw.rotterdam on Instagram.
More information about the Experience Center is available at:
https://alexandrium-shopping-center.klepierre.nl/events-nieuws/events/dutch-sustainable-fashion-experience-center
How to get there
Alexandrium Shopping Center is in Rotterdam’s Prins Alexander district, directly beside Rotterdam Alexander railway, metro and bus station. Trains from Rotterdam Centraal take around ten minutes, while metro lines A and B also stop at Alexander. The shopping area is also accessible from the A20 and has several parking facilities.
