Slow fashion celebration

Have you thought about where your clothes come from and where they go when you are finished with them?

That is what Green Skills want you to do at its Slow Fashion Festival this weekend.

The festival will celebrate sustainable fashion and teach people about local handmade and upcycled options in Albany.

Green Skills project officer Rachel Pontin said the idea came from research by Jane Milburn, a sustainability consultant, who found Australians bought 27kg of textiles every year and threw 23kg into landfill — putting microplastics into the air, soil and water.

“Slow fashion is a return to buying quality natural fibre clothing that lasts for longer and keeping existing clothes in circulation rather than sending them to landfill as the ‘fast fashion’ industry does,” she said.

“This event aims to raise people’s awareness about the impact of fast fashion, empower people with information and practical skills, and showcase the sustainable local options available to us in the Great Southern.”

The festival will be held at Fossicker’s Shed behind the Tip Shop, Hanrahan Road Tip Site.

Mr Chester collects 50 wool bales of second-hand clothing from local op shops every week that would otherwise go to landfill and redistributes it to communities in need and other reuse projects.

A row of bales will be left in place for the festival so community members can see the scale of clothing waste in Albany.

On the day, there will be two workshops and two fashion parades, food and coffee vans, a clothing swap table and local market stalls selling upcycled or sustainable clothing and jewellery.

Attendees can bring up to five items to the clothes swap table to exchange.

A fashion parade will run at 1pm and 3pm, and will feature locally made outfits, including upcycled coffee pod jewellery.