Fashion / AW17
Fashion salvage gets a revamp
Bristol’s sustainable fashion pioneers Revamp, Restyle, Reuse returned this autumn with their second event hosted by Kecks Clothing in a collaboration with Emmaus Bristol.
The pre-loved garments at the Revamp, Restyle, Reuse kilo sale were supplied by Emmaus Bristol, offering you the chance to get fashion salvaging, with onsite stylists and upcyclers, including Bristol’s sustainable fashion hero Helen Brown from Kecks Clothing, guiding you through the steps to introduce pre-loved clothes into your new AW17 wardrobe.
is needed now More than ever
Earth champion award winner Helen ran a short drop-in workshop at the event giving the attendees a chance to learn how to upcycle and reuse garments, sharing inspiring hints and tips, using simple cut and sew techniques that anyone could try themselves on their own clothes. The goal is to move people away from the high street and the current trend for fast fashion, into a more sustainable fashion lifestyle.
“The event was warmly welcomed back,” Helen tells us, “and the people of Stokes Croft seemed glad to have a kilo sale so close to home”. As Kecks Clothing, Helen has been working with local waste reduction groups and education facilities to redirect textiles and household goods away from landfill and back in to Bristol’s circular economy.
The fashion savage events always give you the opportunity to look at garments in a different way and although the garments are always completely random and unique at each event, it is a good idea to know your style and what will work for you. This reduces the risk of more wasted garments which defeats the object of a fashion salvage event. Instead go in with an open mind, looking outside of the box and get creative!
As the colder months are creeping in, jackets, knits, head scarves and shirts were a popular choice at this event, with oversized vintage Ben Sherman’s, Aztec style nineties shirts, vintage sportswear and head wraps being very on-trend with the Bristol street style devotees.
The big bonus to any fashion salvage events are the super low prices. These events are trying to make fashion sustainable and to save many of the garments from an inevitable end in a landfill site, adding to the astoundingly high amount of waste that already goes into landfill every week (Bristol Textiles Recyclers alone divert a shocking twenty tonnes of textiles waste from landfill on a daily bases). The prices are at rock bottom and great value for this reason, the money raised will go back into the charity running the event, which in this case is Emmaus Bristol. Do keep a look out for fashion salvage events near you and pick yourself up some bargains whilst feeling warm and happy about helping a local charity and saving the environment.
“I think people value their own clothes a lot more now they see the industry behind fast fashion and they realise through events like RRR the real scale of waste,” Helen explains, “It’s a game changer for many people.”
Read more about RRR events here
Read more about the Emmaus Bristol charity here
Emmaus Bristol, Backfields House, Upper York St, Bristol BS2 8WF
Read our Fashion Editor, Emma Gorton-Ellicott’s blog No Debutante
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