Re:Dress, an exciting “Slow Fashion” showcase will take place on Friday 29th October at the historic Theatre Royal in Dumfries, to launch the new not-for-profit community project, Dumfries Slow Fashion Movement, which aims to help the community tackle climate change. Local clothes shop and project founder, Circle Vintage, will host the event, which will showcase some of their own vintage pieces alongside customised and up-cycled preowned clothes, and, taking centre stage, will be a collection of “Trash Couture” garments made from reclaimed waste materials.
The climate emergency is at the forefront of the news right now and, while we all know that fast fashion causes damage to our environment, it’s important to acknowledge that the clothing industry is, in fact, one of the main polluters in the world, second only to the oil industry. Over the past few decades massive environmental damage has been caused by greenhouse gas emissions, chemical waste, over exploitation of water supplies and resources, as well as untold damage to people and communities across the world, just to produce our clothes. Every year 350,000 tonnes, that’s around £140 million worth of used but still wearable clothing, goes to landfill in the UK alone, which equates to 30% of our unwanted clothes, and a colossal £2.7 billion worth of outfits sent to landfill in the U.K. every year have been worn just once.
While the simple answer might be to just stop buying clothes, the sheer amount of clothes bought in the U.K. every year shows that fashion brings something to people’s lives that might be so easy to give up, so Dumfries Slow Fashion Movement aims to help us reduce the impact of our clothing choices on the environment without having to give up fashion altogether. Instead of buying new, they will encourage everyone to reuse, swap, rent, share resources and skills, recycle, up-cycle, alter, and buy vintage and preowned, which keeps clothes in use for longer, reduces waste and cuts reliance on fast fashion, without sacrificing personal style.
“We all have to do our bit to try to slow climate change and an easy place to start is to reuse things we already have”, says Daniel McKinnon, who runs Circle Vintage along with his wife. “We decided to launch the community project with a fashion show because that way we can show the sorts of things that are possible with a bit of creative thinking and some basic skills. Hopefully, people will see that we can all still indulge our love for clothes and have our own unique style, without it literally costing the Earth!”
On Friday 29th of October, less than 12 weeks from now, Re:Dress, the first Dumfries Slow Fashion Show, will launch the Dumfries Slow Fashion project, and the organisers are keen to hear from individuals and groups of all ages who would like to design and make an inspirational garment or outfit to grace the catwalk in the up-cycled clothing and “Trash Couture” categories that will form the centrepiece of the show. The closing date for submitting proposals is Friday 3rd September.
For more information, contact Circle Vintage by email at [email protected] or telephone (01387) 270200.
Tickets for Dumfries Slow Fashion Show will go on sale very soon!
