Green This Season - Digital Conscious Fashion Magazine Issue #3 | Page 28

Green This Season MAGAZINE July 2013

27

I understand that recycled
and upcycled fashion is not
a new concept and has been
practiced for a long time
before the term ‘upcycled’
was even coined and before
it became trendy to wear.
If you ask many fashion
lovers, they have all at one
point purchased a vintage or
second hand item so recycling
fashion is a common practice.
Likewise, many of us have
also attempted to transform
an existing garment into
something better so upcycling
may be a fancy term for it, but
is by all means not a foreign
concept to many. For example,
in my teens, before I even
knew what upcycling was, I
had transformed an old pair
of denim jeans into a pair of
denim shorts. I am certain
that I am not the only woman
to have attempted this.
I have been an eco blogger,
predominantly focused on

fashion, for the last three years
and when I first started out,
there wasn’t very many of us
at all in Australia. Fortunately,
I have seen an increase in the
number of sustainable fashion
blogs and I am proud that the
country is producing fashion
bloggers that care about style
as well as our environment.
My blog, Eco Warrior
Princess, is a blog that aims
to inspire people towards
a greener life. As women,
fashion usually plays a big part
of our lives, and so I wanted
to inspire women to turn away
from ‘fast fashion’ and towards
‘slow fashion’ which includes
embracing recycled clothing
and upcycled clothing. I think
nowadays, wearing vintage
and second-hand clothing
does not have the stigma it
once did. My love affair with
recycled garments started
when I was very young and
I began purchasing second
hand and vintage clothing
from charity shops in my
early teens. My mum thought
I was crazy to wear somebody
else’s discarded goods. Now
that vintage shopping is more
common and sustainability I
encourage people to venture
into a charity, thrift or vintage
shop first before

heading to a shopping center.
There are so many garments
there that you could salvage
and upcycle. There is a lot
more work involved in finding
something doesn’t quite fit,
you can always get it tailored
or transformed. I have been
known to recreate dresses from
existing dresses by altering the
hemline, removing shoulder
pads and even sleeves! Also
in my experience, the joy
of finding a treasured piece
in a charity or thrift shop
has always outweighed the
feeling I get from purchasing
something new. And more
often than not, these are the
garments that people usually
ask “where did you get that
from?”

Venette Waste is
a cradle to cradle
company. What does
cradle to cradle mean?
It means a company
responsible for its
product, not only at the
start of the product life
cycle, but also at the
end: it means being a
responsible company!