Designers needed to fight fast fashion the thrifty way

The organiser of the Festival of Thrift’s Oxglam fashion show is on the lookout for people with a passion for sustainable fashion.

Designers, sewers and makers with an eye for creating fabulous, fashionable outfits that don’t cost the earth are being offered the chance to get involved with this year’s event.

The Oxglam fashion show, featuring stunning creations using recycled clothing donations, is one of the highlights of the Festival weekend, which this year takes place on Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 September at Kirkleatham, near Redcar.

To get the show on the road Rachel Parry, Oxfam’s Darlington Store Manager, pictured, who oversees the Oxglam show, says it relies on a committed team of over 40 volunteers working well ahead of the festival.

“We have a trusty team of volunteers who source, sew and create outfits all year as well as working back-stage and modelling for ladies, mens and childrenswear during the weekend.

“We’ve added a couple of models and a designer recently to our team, but we would love more people to get involved. In particular, we’d love to have more designers on board – you can never have too many.”

In a recent interview with the Festival of Thrift Rachel highlighted the astonishing impact that fast fashion is having on climate change as “one of the leading causes of industrial pollution, second only to oil”.

This, she said, is due to that fact that “manufacturers are churning out countless tonnes of clothes which will be worn only a handful of times before they fall out of favour, and end up either donated to a charity shop or in landfill.”

Explaining that there are different reasons for everybody who gets involved with the Oxglam fashion show, she added: “For some, it’s the sense of pride at seeing something they have imagined and created being worn on the catwalk, while for others it’s a great opportunity to practice theatrical hair and make-up skills or to walk a catwalk in front of a large crowd.

“We do have a lot of people coming back to us year after year, and they say they come back because it’s fun and exciting, with a new theme every time to look forward to.”

Anybody interested in finding out more about getting involved with Oxglam at the 2019 Festival of Thrift can send a message to @OxfamDarlington, email oxfamshopf0417@oxfam.org.uk , call the shop on 01325 382415, or call into the shop at 24 Skinnergate, Darlington DL3 7NW and ask to speak to the manager.

Rachel’s interview about Oxglam and the environmental crisis created by fast fashion, which is one of the Festival of Thrift’s ‘Our Voice’ series of sustainability-focused articles, can be found here https://www.festivalofthrift.co.uk/our-voice/

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