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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A commonsense approach

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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.

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

Revive style for planetary health

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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 →

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Aussies send 85% of textiles to landfill

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Australians buy an average of 27 kilograms of new textiles each year and then discard about 23 kilograms* into landfill  – and two-thirds of those discards are manmade synthetic/plastic fibres that may never breakdown.

Sustainability consultant Jane Milburn said Australians are the second-largest consumers of new textiles after north Americans who annually buy 37kg each, and ahead of Western Europeans at 22kg while consumption in Africa, the Middle East and India averages just 5 kg per person. These figures are sourced from north American magazine Textile World.

Textile World graphic of per capita consumption

“There’s been a transformational shift in the way we source, use and discard our clothing which has major social and environmental implications. Fast fashion produced from global supply chains is driving purchasing of excessive new clothing, often discarded after a few wears,” Ms Milburn said.

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Grow a sustainable clothing culture

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Jane Milburn outside Brisbane City HallJane Milburn spoke on a matter of public importance at the November 24 meeting of Brisbane City Council: (download Minutes or read speech and response_24_nov_2015)

“In the same way we’ve become aware of our food – we are becoming more conscious of our clothing.

Today you are either wearing natural-fibres – or synthetic fibres derived from petroleum. I’m wearing a shift created with rescued wool suits that were one step away from becoming landfill. As a natural-fibre champion with a background in issues-based communication, I am seeking to help create a more sustainable clothing culture.

Thank you for this opportunity to raise the matter at this Brisbane City Council meeting.The past decade has seen a transformational shift in where and how our clothing is made – which raises ethical issues such as:

  1. Consumption increase – in two decades, individual annual fibre use across the globe has doubled from 7 to 13 kg each
  1. Fibre change – a decade ago, half of new clothes were natural fibres and half synthetics. Now 2/3 of new clothing are synthetic – and research shows they shed microplastic particles with every wash.

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