Reducing carbon emissions and environmental protection and rehabilitation are concepts that play heavily into the future planning of both the fashion and property industry. The 2022 Melbourne Fashion Week is more focused on sustainability than ever before, and ‘Wastefest’ is leading the charge with this innovative activation showcasing the detrimental impact of fast fashion on the environment. Beulah is proudly contributing to ‘sustainability’ rhetoric surrounding MFW and has secured press in Broadsheet, Timeout and Fashion Journal about Wastefest.

The ideology of ‘sustainability’ is at the forefront of the conceptual event. The post-consumer and unwanted garments used in the project are sourced from a Melbourne-based recycling centre, Upparel; and are laundered with natural and plant-based cleaning brand Koala Eco, and washed in eco-friendly white goods donated by E&S.

Throughout the experience, the emerging designers will receive mentoring by leading Australian designers and pioneers in sustainable fashion, Kit Willow and Heidi Middleton, with support from the team on-site from Future From Waste Lab.

“Besides buying less, buying better and loving longer,” says Kit Willow, founder of sustainable luxury designer brand KITX, “buying high-frequency wear fashion is the golden rule when looking to spruce up your wardrobe.”

Avoid petrochemical fibres such as nylon and polyester, which Willow refers to as a “lose-lose” fibre. 

“Stay away from them,” she says, “because when they’re created, these plastic fibres release nitrous oxide (which is 300 times more toxic than carbon dioxide); when you wash them, they release micro-particles into our waterways; and then, if they’re ever discarded, they never break down and continue to release methane gases into the atmosphere.”

To bring awareness of the impacts of fast fashion on the environment into the mainstream, Beulah, Willow and Middleton have created the Future From Waste Lab to help educate the public.

“Because if you don’t know, you don’t care. And if you don’t care, you don’t change,” Willow says.

WASTEFEST   |   FREE EVENT
BETA BY STH BNK, FUTURE FROM WASTE LAB, LOBBY

To register for a free ticket to ‘Wastefest’ Open Studio or Wrap Party at BETA By STH BNK, please visit sthbnk.com/event/wastefest

Registrations are open now. Tickets are limited.