Upcycling Challenge brings dormant textiles to life

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Due to the Omicron outbreak, Eco Fashion Week Australia and the associated Upcycling Challenge (outlined in the post below) has been postponed until 2023.

Garments with meaning and story fit for A Closet of the Anthropocene will form the Upcycling Challenge collection at the upcoming Eco Fashion Week Australia in 2022.

Participating designers are asked to choose a ‘’hero’’ textile lying dormant in its current form and build on that to create a uniquely meaningful garment with a great story to tell about how it came to be in the world.

The hero textile might be Granny’s embroidered tablecloth, Mum’s outdated wedding dress, Dad’s old uniform, a favourite childhood dress or jumper, something painted in art school, or a beautiful but damaged treasure discovered in an op shop. This textile can be repurposed along with other materials of choice into a storyful creation with the hero at heart.

The EFWA Upcycling Challenge coordinator is Jane Milburn who has been personally upcycling since 2013 as a way to spark action in response to fashion excess and textile waste. Her upcycled wardrobe includes history skirts, denim tunics and geometric dresses made from dormant materials.

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A closet fit for the Anthropocene

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The global fashion industry has faced a reckoning in recent years as wearers awaken to the exploitation, waste and pollution created by the unsustainable pursuit of fashionability in the 21st century.

There are alternatives emerging and those at the leading edge will be showcased in the welcome return of Eco Fashion Week Australia (EFWA) on runways and exhibitions across Western Australia in 2022.

EFWA founder and designer Zuhal Kuvan-Mills said art shows and avant-garde design exhibitions will present the work of fashion artists and designers across the world and challenge conventional notions of fashionability.

A Closet of the Anthropocene, named for the current geological age in which human impacts have predominantly influenced climate and the environment, is the central theme for the third EFWA.

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Reuse to reduce textile waste

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WornOut is an annual showcase of creativity and resourcefulness organised by Reverse Garbage Queensland to showcase designers working to reduce textile waste, with the 2019 theme being The Future of Waste.

As ambassador, Jane Milburn said that future really must be for us to waste nothing – and invest creative effort to keep materials endlessly circulating. Jane and ABC Brisbane’s Rebecca Levingston co-hosted this year’s event.

Rebecca Levingston and Jane Milburn co-hosts of WornOut 2019

‘There has never been a more important time to change our thinking and actions around reuse – to fully value and appreciate our planet’s precious resources,’ Jane said.

WornOut  is now in its third year and taps into the global awakening about social and ecological impacts of the fashion industry, which contributes up to 10 percent of humanity’s carbon emissions. It is curated by Elizabeth Kingston, supported Brisbane City Council and the Queensland Department of Environment and Science, and was held on November 23 at Princess Theatre with showcases of refashion, wearable art and cos play.

Jane said the purpose of the WornOut showcase is to:

  • invest human energy, skills and creativity to transform ‘waste’
  • change attitudes about when – if ever – textile resources are ‘wornout’
  • show thrift and resourcefulness thriving in the local circular economy
  • have fun with what we wear in inclusive and diverse ways

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WornOUT? The future of waste

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Reverse Garbage Queensland is returning to the Princess Theatre in November to celebrate Brisbane’s growing upcycle community of refashion, wearable art and cosplay designers in their annual WornOUT Exhibition.
The future of waste in the textile industry will be explored by Brisbane’s community of slow fashion designers when their creations hit the runway at Reverse Garbage Queensland’s (RGQ) WornOUT? 2019 showcase on Saturday, November 23 at the Princess Theatre, Woolloongabba.
According to Jane Milburn from Textile Beat, slow fashion advocate and Exhibition ambassador,  Australians are the world’s second-largest consumers of new textiles, absorbing around 27kg of clothing fibres annually, while sending 23kg of textiles and leather to landfill each year.
This trend could be set to turn with the world’s largest fashion resale marketplace ThredUp reporting that the second hand market is expected to make up one-third of global consumers’ wardrobes by 2033.
“We’ll be showcasing double the number of garments from last year, which is our largest contingency of refashion, wearable art and cosplay designers in our three-year history”, said Bill Ennals, Exhibition Coordinator.

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Eco fashion rising in Australia

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You know the eco tagline is truly authentic when upcycled garments are included on the runway, as they will be at Eco Fashion Week Australia on November 23-27.

Sceptics might think eco fashion is a branding exercise, another way to sell you things you don’t really need, because fashion is by definition the latest fad or trend – ever-changing and therefore by implication unsustainable.

Eco is short for ecology, ecosystem or environment – so upcycling garments that already exist (another 100 billion* new garments are added to the supply chain each year) lends credibility to this inaugural eco fashion event in Fremantle.

ecofashion photos

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Upcycled exhibition in the frame

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Jennie Stephens and Jane MilburnThe walls of Pandora Gallery were cloaked in creative and unique garments this month as it hosted the first Upcycled exhibition mounted by Jane Milburn in her quest to change the way we think about clothing and textiles.

Local visitors were engaged and intrigued – including local solicitor Michael Baxter who was in town to present a Wills and Power of Attorney session at Coolah library during National Law Week.

Pandora Gallery coordinator Jennie Stephens said the exhibition was extremely well-received and sparked a lot of community involvement and interest. “It reminded us of the many ways we can utilise what we have, rather than becoming a throw-away society,” Jennie said.  Continue Reading →

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Upcycling remodels wardrobe waste

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Americans each throw away 30kg of textiles a year, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong about 13kg per person according to their environmental protection agencies – and Australian charities process about 5kg of donated clothing per person each year.

An Upcycling exhibition to help us get a handle on how fast-fashion consumes resources and creates waste is coming to Coolah this week with agricultural scientist and communications consultant Jane Milburn.

Jane is one-third through the 365-day Sew it Again project to inspire creative upcycling of existing clothing, demonstrate slow fashion and revive home-sewing as a life skill akin to home-cooking.

“I’m demonstrating refashioning on sewitagain.com, empowering others with upcycling skills and ideas through workshops, and shifting society’s thinking about ecological impacts of clothing choices,” Jane says.  Continue Reading →

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