Authenticity for the win

\ by

‘Show up as your natural, authentic self – anything else is contrived’ – Jane Milburn

The clothes we choose make a statement of who we are. They are a big part of our lives because we dress at least once a day. Clothes can cause us stress, clutter our space and soak up time.

Slow Clothing emerged as a narrative for we – the wearers – about how we can think, choose and wear clothes to ensure they bring meaning, value and joy to every day. This is not about fashion values, more about ethics, sustainability and our own creativity.

Continue Reading →

Posted in: leadership, lifestyle, slow clothing \ Tagged: ,

A commonsense approach

\ by

The simplest way to reduce our material footprint is wear clothes that already exist and wear them for longer. Less shopping and washing makes economic and ecological sense.

At no time in history have there been so many clothes in the world. In the four years to 2016, global production of new clothes rose 25 percent as did the export of cast-offs from Australia to the third world.

Define ethics as ‘the right thing to do’ and it becomes common sense to shop second-hand first, and re-wear what we own. These are the actions of thinking people.

Continue Reading →

Posted in: clothing waste, consumption issues, leadership, lifestyle, reuse, slow clothing \ Tagged: , , ,

Slow Clothing, book launch Victoria

\ by

Practical and sustainable ways of dressing for health and wellbeing are central themes of a new book launched in Victoria on March 19.

Slow Clothing: finding meaning in what we wear responds to ethical issues arising from fast fashion culture which include waste, pollution and exploitation.

Continue Reading →

Posted in: clothing waste, consumption issues, leadership, lifestyle, slow clothing \ Tagged: , , ,

Dressing for health and wellbeing

\ by

We can leave home without eating occasionally but never without dressing!

Dressing is integral to life but what we wear is so often discussed in a fashion context of colour, shape and style. The broader view considers health and wellbeing aspects that respond to fashion waste, pollution, and exploitation issues.

Australian social entrepreneur Jane Milburn, founder of Textile Beat, has spent five years studying the need to transform a culture of fashion excess to a more thoughtful and engaged approach.

Jane’s new book Slow Clothing: finding meaning in what we wear was launched in Canberra at the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation by economist Richard Dennis who, in his own book (Curing Affluenza) proposes buying less stuff as a way to save the world.

Jane Milburn at Frank Fenner Foundation event and Canberra book launch with Richard Denniss

Continue Reading →

Posted in: clothing waste, consumption issues, leadership, lifestyle, slow clothing \ Tagged: , ,

On the Textile Beat

\ by

Textile Beat is a leadership initiative that responds to ecological and social issues associated with contemporary clothing culture in developed nations. Our regular enews On the Textile Beat includes a range of news and views, including details about our advocacy work, talks and workshops. If you are interested in slow clothing, natural fibres, dressing with conscience and reducing textile waste, then you might like to sign up to our newsletter, on the right hand side of this webpage. Meanwhile, here’s the link to our latest enews, which includes photos from the Sydney and Brisbane launches of Jane Milburn’s new book Slow Clothing: finding meaning in what we wear. 

Posted in: clothing waste, consumption issues, lifestyle, slow clothing \ Tagged: ,

Living lightly in everyday practice

\ by

Clothes do not fall from the sky and meals do not gush out of the earth. Our food and clothing must come from our own labour: Master Zi Bai, Ming Dynasty.

This 14th century philosophy is far removed from the 21st century when many people order a look or a meal with the click of a finger on a phone. Global supply chains have become so efficient at meeting our food and clothing needs for a handful of dollars that we’ve lost touch with their source.

Fast food and fast fashion is convenient but ultimately unsatisfying. We’re concerned about the ethics and waste. There is growing hunger for something more substantial, something real, something crafted with our own hands and effort.

Jane Milburn at Lantau Blue studio and wearing handmade in Hong Kong

Continue Reading →

Posted in: consumption issues, ecodye, lifestyle, slow clothing \ Tagged: , , ,

Slow Clothing book launches

\ by

Slow Clothing: finding meaning in what we wear presents a compelling case for wearers to change the way we dress and encapsulates a philosophy that is the antithesis of fast fashion.

Based on Jane Milburn’s five-year journey into natural fibres and upcycling, the book was launched recently in Sydney by ABC-TV’s War on Waste crusader Craig Reucassel and in Brisbane by ABC broadcaster Rebecca Levingston.

ABC-TV’s War on Waste crusader Craig Reucassel and Jane Milburn at The Happenstore.

Rebecca Levingston with Jane Milburn, photo left, and with Brisbane City Council’s Field Services Chairman Cr Peter Matic, Robyn Sheptooha and Peter Lewis at the Brisbane launch of Slow Clothing.

Continue Reading →

Posted in: clothing waste, leadership, lifestyle, slow clothing \ Tagged: , , , ,

Revive style for planetary health

\ by

Brisbane is the first city in the world to host a pop-up secondhand fashion festival as a waste minimization strategy, to the best of my knowledge. I (Jane Milburn) checked with New York refashion academic Sass Brown and Sass knows of no other.  Do tell if you know of another.

Stiltwalkers showcase refashion at the 2016 Revive event in the heart of Brisbane. Photo by Brisbane City Council

Stiltwalkers showcase refashion at the 2016 Revive event in the heart of Brisbane. Photo by Brisbane City Council

Revive is in its second year and pops up again on 18 August 2017 at South Bank Forecourt from noon to 9pm. Hats off to Brisbane City Council, Cr Peter Matic and Cr David McLachlan for leadership. With textiles being one of the fastest growing domestic waste streams, fuelled by fast-fashion turnover, I am proud to have been in the room at its conception. Thank you to Cr Matic for acknowledging my contribution.

The advent of Revive followed a 2015 opportunity I had to address a council meeting on a matter of public importance.  Here’s the link to my 2015 address (including Hansard pdf) when I spoke of the need to develop a more sustainable clothing culture. Revive is a huge step in this direction.  Continue Reading →

Posted in: clothing waste, consumption issues, leadership, lifestyle, reuse, slow clothing \ Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Clothing changes too fast

\ by

By Ari Balle-Bowness

ariClothing of today changes faster than the weather. Buying clothes, wearing them once and leaving them in the cupboard is commonplace. This is not an assumption, it is a regular observation.

I am a 19-year-old journalism student at Griffith University sharing a male perspective on contemporary clothing culture and how to combat the fashion monster that has come to dominate our thinking.

My clothing choices are independent as I try to stay away from the fast-fashion options and prefer to develop my own style. My solution is op-shopping and second-hand stores which are increasingly popular among younger generations. For many my age, the vintage revival is booming and op shops are becoming trendy places which also happen to provide a more sustainable way to dress.  Continue Reading →

Posted in: consumption issues, lifestyle, slow clothing \ Tagged: , , , ,

Rethinking clothing culture

\ by

By Jane Milburn Textile Beat founder and sustainability consultant

Textile Beat founder Jane Milburn clothed in wool garments given a second life using eco-dye. Photo by Ele Cook

Textile Beat founder Jane Milburn clothed in wool garments given a second life using eco-dye. Photo by Ele Cook

My campaign on clothing waste has been a lifetime in the making. It began as a child learning hand-making skills and continued as a student upcycling big old dresses and thrifted finds.

I made many of my clothes for decades then rediscovered op shops in 2011 after a Fashion for Flood fundraiser. I began visiting op shops and particularly seeking out natural-fibre garments – wool jumpers with a hole, linen shirts with a missing button. The waste of resources troubled me because I grew up on a farm and have an agricultural science degree. What was happening to our clothing culture I wondered?

Continue Reading →

Posted in: clothing waste, consumption issues, ecodye, leadership, lifestyle, reuse, Sew it Again, slow clothing \ Tagged: , , , , , , ,