Sewing up new ways with old clothes

A region-first event will aim to reduce the “horrendous” amount of clothes that make their way to landfill by showing alternative uses for garments.

The Clothing Revolution is coming to Pūtangitangi Greenmeadows Centre on Saturday, 16 September.

It has been organised by the Soroptimist International (SI) of Waimea to bring awareness to the environmental impact coming from the clothing sector commonly known as the ‘clothing footprint’.

“It’s about how to reduce the clothing footprint and stopping clothes going to landfill,” says Jan McKenzie, event organiser and member of SI Waimea.

“I read an article by professor Sara Walton from Otago University, who has done a lot of research on this, and I thought ‘we need to start doing something about this’. It’s horrendous the statistics about clothing going to landfill.”

An estimated 180,000 tonnes of clothing and textile waste is dumped in New Zealand landfills every year.

Worldwide, the fashion industry is the second most polluting industry, responsible for between eight to 10 per cent of total carbon emissions and 20 per cent of global wastewater, with a predicted increase of 50 per cent in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

“I started researching, seeing if there were people already doing something about the problem, and I found out about the Repair Cafe, a group called Stitch It Don’t Ditch It, as well as a group started through the Tasman District Council named Textile Activism in Tasman,” says Jan.

Ladies from SI Waimea got busy with the task of approaching organisations with the hopes of coming together to host an event that would bring awareness to the clothing footprint.

The idea was well received, and many local organisations and businesses came on board. They have also managed to secure professor Sara Walton as the guest speaker. The event will also include a fashion stylist who will be putting on a slide show demonstrating how you can alter and change clothing for different occasions.

“We have had a lot of interest, and a lot of people saying this a very needed thing, so we think there will be a lot of people coming,” explains Jan.

“We have had an awful lot of support and it’s great to have an event to get information across about reducing our clothing footprint and stop clothing going to landfill.”

Doors open at 1pm for a 1.30pm start. Entry is $5.