Saving unsellable clothing

THREE local designers and artists are on a mission to reduce fashion waste with a towering mountain of unsellable clothes.

As part of Geelong Design Week, Emily Rastas, Kate Sylvester and Lazarus Gordon have joined forces to deliver the Circle of Thread from November 21 until November 30.

The event will invite the public to engage in creative repair, taking something from the mountain of clothing and working alongside the designers to mend and repurpose the textiles.

“It’s like a visual installation to try and make people think, it’s also inviting them to participate and make an impact and make a little change and learn some new skills,” Ms Rastas said.

Workshops and an upcycle station will also run at the event, teaching more tailored skills and offering a range of beads, buttons, fabrics and more to personalise pieces.

All the clothing within the mountain has been donated by the Uniting Church, highlighting the importance of sustainability in fashion.

Ms Rastas said clothing donations making their way into op shops are often waste and rubbish.

“It’s stained and torn and unsellable, unfortunately this would happen in nearly every op shop in the world, they don’t have the facilities, or the people, to be able to repair things and make them sellable, so that just gets exported.

“As a sustainable designer who loves clothing, that just breaks my heart.”

Through the Circle of Thread pop up, the trio are hoping to create education and empowerment around how much textile waste is created each year.

“We’re hoping that this very small scale of it can be a bit of a visualisation of what is actually happening.”

In preparation for the event the three designers also gave up a full day, spending their time, and $250, at the laundromat making sure everything going into the installation was clean.

The installation will take place at 52 Corio Street, Geelong from 10am each day.

For more information and for tickets for the workshops, head to emipelidesign.com