Category Archives: sustainability

Sew 130 – Fast fashion waste

The built environment shapes the way we live, food choices influence our health and the clothing we chose to wear is a statement about who we are.

Media reports today confirm that fast food is having a profound influence on our diet, with a new Australian Health Survey by the Bureau of Statistics showing we are eating 30 per cent less fruit and vegetables than 15 years ago.

Curtin University’s Professor Mike Daube is quoted as saying fast food has eclipsed vegetables as a dietary staple, which is a major concern because of the implications for health costs and disease burden in society. “The results are a triumph for the mass marketing of junk food,” he says.

Just as fast food has negatively influenced our diets, fast fashion has transformed the clothing and textile landscape. In the past decade, our entire approach has changed since globalisation made clothing cheaper and more plentiful that ever before.

Clothing waste is a very real issue, leading to organisations such as the UK-based charity TRAID working to stop clothes from being thrown away and Hong Kong-based NGO Redress promoting environmental sustainability in the fashion industry by reducing textile waste, pollution, water and energy consumption.

Tweets from the Ecochic Awards yesterday via @TRAID and @Redress_Asia quoted: “A third of all clothing is still ending up in landfill In the UK … we throw £140 million of clothes into the bin every year … according to WRAP UK 17-20% of garments made remain unsold.”

Such waste is worrying and these figures are probably similar in other developed nations such as Australia. A desire to value reject natural fibre clothing underpins my 365-day Sew it Again project to raise awareness of how we can creatively reconstruct and upcycle what already exists instead of always buying new.

Sew 130 is two op-shop found jumpers. The striped wool had a couple of small holes which I mended by hand-stitching on a few buttons. The khaki wool jumper was cut and reshaped as a jumper skirt, with the sleeves sewn together (on the diagonal to optimise length) to become a scarf. Ele has accessorised with bright blue and makes these rejects look groovy.

Sew 128 – Working with nature on-farm

Farmers pride themselves on looking after the environment that provides their livelihood.

That’s why country people understand recycling and upcycling. Working in tune with nature and being mindful of how we use natural resources is a way of life.

Organic beef producer Phil Cook – partner of leadership colleague Ele Cook – goes one step further in modelling his sustainably upcycled wool jumper this morning as he headed outdoors to work in the cold windy weather at Coolah in New South Wales. Continue reading →

Sew 127 – Warming wool jumper skirt

It is cool in Coolah so I’m glad to have plenty of op shop (Coonabaraban Vinnies) wool jumpers to upcycle into Sew 127 using my signature swish of the jumper to skirt conversion.

This is the simplest upcycle of reject and waste natural-fibre garments, and one that features prominently in the Pandora Gallery Upcycled exhibition which was officially opened yesterday, thanks to my creative leadership colleague and friend Ele Cook – and gallery volunteers including Jennie and Jackie.

This country town in central west New South Wales is waste conscious – it even has a Waste to Art project to reuse resources in a productive way. As part of the Upcycled exhibition, we are holding a hands-on Wagga-making workshop (making cushions and blankets from waste textile) on Sunday at the back of the gallery. Continue reading →

Sew 126 – Linen suit gets update

Setting up the Upcycled exhibition at Pandora Gallery in Coolah has helped consolidate the purpose and messaging around my 365-day Sew it Again campaign. Once people think about how our relationship with clothing has changed over the years, they understand why we need to adjust our behaviour to reduce textile waste.

Because country people live close to nature and are naturally resourceful, they’re really receptive to the upcycling concept. We workshopped the Upcycled values for a sign on the gallery wall and keeping adding more – they include being mindful, thrifty, ethical, resourceful, sustainable, creative, original, zero waste, eco-friendly. Continue reading →

Sew 124 – Upcycled in Coolah

Very excited to have my first Upcycled exhibition now hanging in Pandora Gallery at Coolah in New South Wales as a celebration of natural fibres and (re)fashion from today until May 16.

Upcycled is an interactive exhibition about the history, origins and uses of natural fibres which explores creative ways to refashion existing clothing for a second life.

Our consumer society is using textiles at an unprecedented rate, with thousands of tonnes of waste clothing dumped in landfill or shipped to third-world countries every year.

Thanks to my ARLP leadership colleague Ele Cook and gallery coordinator Jennie Stephens, I’ve been able to mount this exhibition to showcase some of my repurposed reject garments 365-day Sew it Again creations to raise awareness of the ethical, social and environmental issues of textile waste. Continue reading →

Sew 118 – Thrift the new black

Some people look at you sideways when you declare you’re an op-shopper while others understand the sense of discovery, salvage, revival, thrift and pleasure it represents.

There are many reasons why people throw out clothing including de-cluttering a bulging wardrobe, boredom, dated style, gain/loss of weight, doesn’t work with body shape, owner has moved on, it needs mending or they may want to help a charity.

But in a recent 1 Million Women post about the pros and cons of donating clothing to charity, Bronte Hogarth wrote: “It might feel like you’ve lifted a weight of your shoulders in cleaning out your closet and donating your clothes to charity, but everyone should be aware that your clothes don’t automatically end up in an op shop or in the hands of someone in need, if at all. The model at Lifeline, for example, shows that one third of clothes donated are considered good enough to go back into the stores to be sold, one third is packed up to be exported, and the remaining third is either cut up and sold as cleaning cloths or disposed of. This model is reflective of clothing collection charities worldwide.” Continue reading →

Sew 117 – Upcycle with length

It is shocking – horrifying even – that there is such a surfeit of clothing in the world that barely worn stuff is being tossed for lack of the right look, shape, size, pattern or fit.

We are encouraged to buy more stuff at every turn, without mindful consideration of a longer-term perspective for ourselves and the planet.

This year I’m pausing to reflect and sort all the stuff I’ve accumulated – my stuff of choice being found natural fibre clothing from opshops.

Over the past three years of op-shopping, I’ve accumulated enough to see out my lifetime. I don’t harbour any guilt from it because I’ve had a sense of rescuing it for a good cause. That cause is the Sew it Again project, upcycling every day this year to demonstrate how simple home sewing skills can extend the life of existing clothing by adapting to suit one’s needs. Continue reading →

Sew 115 – Fighting the good fight

The fabric of society is threads of courage, concepts and good conscience woven with heart. It is Anzac Day in Australia, a day we remember the sacrifice of others so we can live well in a just and free society.

Yesterday a different type of war began. The Fashion Revolution is a battle of conscience to change the culture of clothing consumption which causes injustice, exploitation and waste in the name of looking good.

When you lead from the heart, valuing good and honest endeavours, you live with a clear conscience. This year I stepped into a fairly vacant space, upcycling downunder out of concern for the waste and clothing churn I saw all around me.

This time last year on television, I had watched Bangladesh’s Rana Plaza factory collapse in what was the worst industrial accident for a generation, killing 1133, injuring twice that number, and leaving thousands more destitute. It seemed so wrong – people working in unsafe and desperate conditions, churning out more $5 clothing that not one of us need.

There’s little any individual can do on their own to change things – but yesterday it was amazing to see the Fashion Revolution Day social media storm begin in Australia/New Zealand and gain momentum as it swept around the globe.

So many great words written, photos posted and shared with the #insideout hashtag. The Fashion Revolution movement, founded by Carry Somers in the United Kingdom, connected people in more than 50 countries wanting fashion to become a force for good, one year after Rana Plaza collapsed.

It fell on fertile ground with me, an agricultural scientist and communications consultant with a love of natural fibres and wardrobes bulging with op-shop rescued natural fibre clothing. My Sew it Again upcycling journey began this year as a way of reusing what I already have, showing others what they can do with what they have, and working to shift society’s thinking about the way we engage with our clothes.

Sew 115 is a dress upcycled from a skirt and top that weren’t being worn as they were. The skirt I’d made a while back from cotton/viscose knit fabric which was resewn to the reworked top. The top was op-shop found of cotton/viscose/elastane blend fabric which was quite thick and structured. I cut out the neck and put it aside. I cut off the hem and reattached it as a collar – positioning the collar piece inside the neckline so that it flops forward over the cut neck edge. (Place collar inside neck with both pieces sitting the same way not right sides together. It is hard to show in a photo but easy when you get it sitting the right way. Put one pin in and test how it sits when you bring it to the front.) I trimmed and angled the sleeve length to groove it up a bit, leaving the edge unfinished but putting a few hand stitches in the cut arm-seam so it doesn’t unravel. I removed the elastic from the waist of the skirt and discarded. I then attached the skirt to the top by sewing right sides together. The skirt had a slightly bigger circumference than the top, so I pinned both in quarters (for even spread) and stretched the skirt as I sewed it to the top. The rosemary sprig from our garden is a nod to Anzac Day. Lest we forget.

Sew 114 – Jeans repinafored

Fashion Revolution Day has arrived. It’s exactly one year since Rana Plaza collapsed in Bangladesh killing 1133 workers, injuring many others, and exposing unpleasant truths about cheap, unethical and exploitative clothing.

We’re fussy about what we wear because we want to look good, feel comfy, reflect an image, belong to our tribe. Wearing any old thing is rarely enough. We want to make a statement.

Fashion Revolution Day is a chance to wear your heart on your sleeve, think about what you’re wearing, show your labels, ask the brand who made it, reflect on whether it is an ethical and sustainable choice.

Clothing the world soaks up massive resources when you do the sums – 7.2 billion people each (on average) consuming 11 kg of apparel fibre (ie clothing) every year. Look at this graph below and you’ll see how consumption is rising, with the growth mainly in synthetic fibres made from petroleum. source document Continue reading →

Sew 113 – Jean genie

Jeans are produced in their millions annually and an average pair weighs at least half a kilogram. That’s a huge resource in terms of cotton farmed, fibre spun, fabric woven, dyed, sewn, finished and marketed.

It is enthralling – and appalling – to think that 253 tons of clothing is thrown away by Hong Kong residents on the average day, according to their Environmental Protection Department.

Redress is a Hong-Kong based NGO with a mission to promote environmental sustainability in the fashion industry by reducing textile waste, pollution, water and energy consumption.

The 5-metre high mountain of second-hand clothing, photographed below, was designed as part of the Get Redressed campaign to illustrate the Chinese territory’s textile waste and is just the tip of a precipice because it represents only 7.5 tons of textiles, or 3% of the daily dumping of clothing. Continue reading →