Join us for a Slow Fashion Season

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Are you up for a Slow Fashion Season? To make conscious wardrobe choices for three months from June 21 to September 21 this year? It might mean buying nothing for three months; or swapping, upcycling or sewing your stash; buying second-hand and vintage; or supporting sustainable, local, small fashion labels if you find you really need something new.

Slow Fashion Season, a global challenge out of The Netherlands, which aims to have 25,000 people participate and together save the equivalent of up to 750 million litres of water and 2.5 million kgs of CO2 emissions through positive choices. We’d love you to sign up and be part of this collective action.

I personally committed to making conscious choices in my wardrobe forever after noticing fashion excess and setting up Textile Beat in 2013 to have conversations about textile waste. My personal actions for the next three months will be upcycling what I already own.

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Mindful conversations about clothing

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Every day we eat and we dress. We are now more conscious of our food – it is time to be more conscious of our clothing.

Jane Milburn was immersed in slow fashion for 365 days during 2014 with a personal undertaking to upcycle existing natural fibre garments for the Sew it Again project. It proved to be a lesson in contemporary dress culture, making Jane more aware of how little we know about the back story of garments that wrap our bodies 24/7.

This awakening informs a reshaped future for Textile Beat. What began as a simple textile upcycling initiative now evolves into a more holistic approach to dressing. Jane dreams of making every garment story a good one – good for the wearer, society and planet.

There are many ways for individuals to dress with conscience. It begins with knowing more than what is visible from the outside. The art of dressing well is embodied in the character of what you wear, not just the look. Your options for mindful dressing might encompass the following characteristics: local, quality, pre-loved, handmade, good and fair, repair and care, zero textile waste, know your style, natural fibres, sentimental, upcycled or classic. Dress well to live well.

Slow fashion graphic

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Upcycling 365 days, forever

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Jane Milburn wears upcycledBrisbane-based upcycler Jane Milburn spent every day of 2014 restyling cast-off clothing and engaging others in the process of refashioning old into ‘new’ as part of the eco-social change project Sew it Again.

Using simple home-sewing skills to snip-and-tuck unworn textiles (mainly linen, cotton, wool and silk from op shops and friends) Jane then posted the upcycles at sewitagain.com to demonstrate ways to re-new rather than buy-new.

“Every day, we eat and we dress. We are now more conscious of our food and it is time to become conscious of our clothing and its footprint on the world. A global rethink about the way we dress is beginning, as people question where clothing is made and what from, is it ethical and sustainable, and does it exploit people or planet?” Jane said.

As an agricultural scientist turned creative, Jane is raising awareness about the ecological impacts of our cheap/disposable fashion culture that consumes finite resources and generates textile waste at an alarming rate. Continue Reading →

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