WornOUT? The future of waste

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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Helping divert textiles from landfill

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 →