On the Textile Beat enews December 2022

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Being able to travel and complete my Churchill Fellowship study tour about regenerating our agency in the wardrobe was a highlight for 2022 and I’ve selected a few people I met to showcase in this enews. It was difficult to choose from the many wonderful people I had the opportunity to meet across two months spent in New Zealand, the United States and the United Kingdom investigating ways that hands-on upcycling can help reduce textile waste and enhance wellbeing. I found that always having interesting clothes to wear, enjoying self-care while working with your hands, and being part of the solution to fast fashion are just some of the reasons people are choosing to become more hands-on with their clothes. Other wonderful projects I was involved with during 2022 include the Painted River Project in Moree, New South Wales, and WornOUT at the Old Museum of Brisbane, and I’ve shared some links in this enews, which you can subscribe to via the right-hand side of the textilebeat.com home page. Wishing you all the best for the festive season and positivity for 2023.

https://mailchi.mp/3bc3b61ba0a6/slow-clothing-regenerating-agency-and-natural-fibres?e=e9c6db392c

Posted in: Churchill Fellowship, Permaculture, slow clothing \ Tagged: , ,

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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Posted in: clothing waste, consumption issues, Exhibitions, Fashion Revolution, leadership, slow clothing, slow fashion \ Tagged: , , , ,

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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Posted in: clothing waste, Exhibitions, leadership, reuse \ Tagged: , , , , , ,

Refashioning a future without waste

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Refashioning clothing and textiles for new life is one way to reduce waste, and reuse organisation Reverse Garbage Queensland (RGQ) is set to demonstrate the limitless possibilities when their wearable art exhibition, WornOUT, returns for another year.

WornOUT 2018 will be co-presented by Textile Beat and proudly sponsored by Brisbane City Council.  It will kick off with an opening night launch event at the Princess Theatre in Woolloongabba on November 24 from 7pm.  The event is free, open to the public and will feature runway showcases for Refashion, Wearable Art and Cosplay.

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

Helping divert textiles from landfill

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Textiles are the biggest product segment at Reverse Garbage Queensland, prompting the launch of Worn OUT as an exhibition to celebrate refashion and creative upcycling.

At the RGQ warehouse in Woolloongabba on October 28, Worn OUT showcased 35 refashioned garments made by a dozen creatives from around Australia.

Co-curators Jane Milburn, left, and Elizabeth Kingston, right with a Karen Benjamin plastic dress.

Coordinator Bill Ennals said textiles had easily become RGQ’s fastest-growing segment in the past few years with local businesses diverting excess stock to the warehouse for resale rather than sending it to landfill.  Continue Reading →

Posted in: consumption issues, leadership, reuse, slow clothing, slow fashion \ 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 →

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

Mendful, mindful stitches

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Mended garments carry a story of care. They reflect the triumph of imperfection over pretension while the act of mending itself brings transformation in both mender and mended.

By embracing repair as a valid and useful act we, the menders, are stitching new life-energy into something others step over in the scrabble onwards and upwards. To pause, apply creative problem-solving and add a mark of care to our clothes, we extend their life and bring meaning to our own.

The clothes we wear are a statement of values. We may go through stages of searching for newer, sharper images and think clothes, like makeup and leopard spots, can camouflage and attract the right sort of attention. Alas, the pipe dream.  Continue Reading →

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