The Clothing Exchange

The Clothing Exchange is a Australian initiative, coordinating volunteers to run exchange events in councils around the country to promote swapping over shopping. I volunteered to help out at one event in North Sydney at the Coal Loader Centre for Sustainability last month and was impressed by the venue, the turnout (between 40-50 women), the food and drinks provided and the volume of clothing that was swapped! Definitely the best clothing swap I have been to and I even managed to find a dress for myself in the small pile of clothing that was left over at the end of the night.

The Bower Reuse & Repair Centre Co-op

Another brilliant thing about the Addison Road Centre, in addition to Reverse Garbage and the Sunday market is the Bower Reuse and Repair Centre Cooperative. Check out their website for more information and you can also follow them on social media.

Addison Road Market

The best stall of them all...
Responsibly Gorgeous, made in Marrickville.

Blue t-shirt dress

My friend Adam had two long sleeved t-shirts he had stopped wearing due to the size (too small) and a little wear and tear.

I wanted a new dress for the races at the weekend.

Only one thing to do, upcycle them!

Reverse Garbage

I've been working at this awesome place, Australia's largest creative re-use centre! Check out the Reverse Garbage website and social media for more info and the latest stock updates.

Addison Road Organic Market

Every Sunday, the wonderful Addison Road Community Centre hosts an open air organic market, attracting many people to enjoy the delicious goods from the stalls and laid back atmosphere. The awesome Reverse Garbage was also buzzing with people on Sunday, a brilliant day all round! Check out the Addison Road Community Centre website for more information.

Yarn Bombing

I arrived in Manly, north of Sydney, and saw this wonderful example of yarn bombing on my first day in the town!

Salvaging Sewing Machines

This sewing machine was salvaged from a Household Waste and Recycle Centre (HWRC) last month in East London. I'm shocked that people choose to discard sewing machines at their local HWRC when there are so many avenues which enable them to stay in use including ebay, freecycle, flooting and taking it to a charity shop.

In addition to multiple re-use avenues, there is also a growing craft market forcing a rise of sewing machine sales. I have found articles each year from 2009 'Tesco sells two sewing machines a minute' to 2013 'Britain's got a sewing bee in it's bonnet causing sewing machine sales to soar' documenting the clear demand from a growing market.

In addition to the Singer below, I sorted through many other sewing machines that had been rescued. They were old electrical machines, with matching top thread and bobbin threaded up and ready to sew, with an array of spare bobbins, unpickers, needles and safety pins in the little storage compartment, with the cable and foot pedal wrapped carefully around the machine. They are definitely not waste and should be used!

The Sewing Machine Project operates in America, collecting and distributing unwanted sewing machines to communities around the world, supporting people to pursue creative projects.

If anyone knows of any sewing machine re-use projects in the UK please do let me know!

Tie Dress

The Tie Dress, a popular upcycling challenge. This is mine.

The Upcycling Fashion Store, Berlin

Thanks to tweets from Livia Firth and From Somwhere, I'm very happy to hear about the first Upcycling Fashion Store in Berlin! Which I am excited by, even though I can't read German. Great to see fashion upcyclists in Berlin doing things like this...

Here is a blog post from someone who has been

And another

And another

Like it on Facebook!

Hooplayarn

I love knitting with upcycled Hooplayarn! The selvedges of cotton and jersey are saved from the bin and instead are wound around cardboard cones and sold as yarn to hand knit and crochet into new products. 

I bought my two favourite colours, blue and grey, from the wonderful Fabrications on Broadway Market and transformed the yarn into cushions to sell at the Knit Wits knitting group market stall in Brixton.

Hooplayarn before

Hooplayarn after

Take Back Schemes

Following a visit to Brighton in November 2011, I blogged about the Vans recycling scheme I saw advertised in their shop window and mentioned how great it would be if more shops started operating and promoting take back schemes to increase the available avenues for garments to be re-used and recycled.

It is now nineteen months later and I am very happy to follow up the Vans blog post with examples of more take back schemes I have spotted in shops around London. Furthermore, many schemes include a financial incentive to encourage customers to bring unwanted garments back when they visit the store.

As more people choose to shop in out-of-town malls and shopping centres such as Westfield, traditional behaviours of donating second hand clothing to local charity shops can become increasingly inconvenient.

The Green Style Blog on the British Vogue website recently featured a similar take back for recycle scheme launched by the global  retailer Intimissimi. The following images were taken at Jack Jones, H&M, Marks and Spencer and Clarks.

Jack Jones

H and M

Marks and Spencer

Clarks

Recycle Week 2013

As part of recycle week 2013, DEFRA have developed this infographic about clothing waste with support from WRAP. It's shocking to see the figures, but great to see clothing in the spotlight for recycle week!

Don't let your clothes be disposable - reduce, re-use and recycle!

Patchwork Cushion

As a leaving present for a wonderful colleague, we collected squares of fabric from unwanted materials (which matched colours from Waste Watch branding) and I created a cushion which will now be loved and treasured.