'Slow fashion' show highlights demand for climate change action

A fashion show with a difference and a message took place in Auckland last week.

The show featured creations repurposed by a collective of upcycling experts, with the messages “Slow down fast fashion” and “Vote Climate”.

Upcycle Collective Aotearoa founder Lucy May Goffe-Robertson says:

“There’s some really terrible issues happening around the world basically caused by corporate greed and profit and it’s basically causing destruction around the world, especially in the fashion industry.”

She’s proud to have included repurposed Greenpeace flags.

Lucy-Mae Goffe-Robertson's repurposed Greenpeace flag. Photo/Yuki Wada

Jeanine Clarkin has been upcycling and designing Māori streetwear for 20 years.

"It is awesome to see so many ways in which people are able to express themselves as well as recycle and reuse textiles, giving them a bit of life and a bit more fun.”

Goffe-Robertson and Greenpeace have also collaborated to launch an online petition. They are lobbying the government to “implement producer responsibility measures to slow down the production and consumption of fast fashion in New Zealand”.

They also want fast fashion producers like Zara, Fashion Nova and H&M to “cover the costs of the pollution caused by their products over their lifecycle”.

“Fast fashion depends on modern slavery. One in every 130 women and girls around the world fall victim to modern slavery, and many work in sweatshops in Asia, creating garments for fast fashion brands,” they wrote in their petition which has received 100 signatures so far.

With all the garments in the show upcycled, Goffe-Robertson says their presence on High Street in Auckland’s CBD was to create awareness around repurposing garments and make upcycling more accessible to those who think it’s too hard.

“My way of sewing is very outside of the rules, outside of the system anyway. When people come into my space, they’re already buzzing about the way I do things differently, it is a rebellion,” Goffe-Robertson says.

Among those walking down the runway were independent election candidate in Māngere, Brooke Pao Stanley and Green Party candidate for Puketapāpa Mt Roskill, Suveen Sanis Walgampola.

Brooke Pao Stanley said her tautoko was to make “sure that we’re really intentional about the clothes that we wear and where they come from”.

Pacific artist Numa Mackenzie, known for his ‘Landback’ shirts is also in the collective and has his repurposed garments available to buy at Moana Fresh in Avondale.

Other statements on the runway read: ‘people not profit’.

Because it is about people but it is also about the environment - we’re connected to it all, says Goffe-Robertson.

“By regulating to slow down fast fashion we can use and appreciate what we have. We can support our local clothes designers and makers.”

Check out interviews with some of the Fashion Rebellion team here: