Slow Clothing as Antidote to Fast Fashion with Jane Milburn

Urban City Farm demonstrating permaculture principles.

Northey Street City Farm

A profound rethink of fashion is required in the face of the climate crisis.

Being more engaged with the clothes in our wardrobe is a way to drive systemic change as well as bringing with it financial, ecological health and wellbeing benefits. Rather than passively choosing from the latest shelf-ready fast fashion offerings, we can regenerate our agency when we are empowered through skills, knowledge and desire to assemble a wardrobe of garments that we want to wear and know how to keep in service for as long as possible. During her recent Churchill Fellowship research, Jane Milburn met many people reclaiming their agency through acts of styling, mending, making, co-designing, redesigning and upcycling to appreciate and value the natural resources that go into our garments.When we have motivation, time, and knowledge to get involved with our clothes – similar to how we get involved with our food in the kitchen – we are empowered to use what is available and adapt it to best suit our needs and tastes. During this session, Jane will share slow clothing philosophy and actions for reducing our material footprint: think, natural, local, quality, few, care, make, revive, adapt and salvage. You will learn the basics of mending (by making your own needle roll and learning to hand-stitch). Please also bring a few garments from your wardrobe that you love but aren’t wearing for some reason. We discuss redesign concepts and revival possibilities and upcycle using hand-stitch within the timeframe available.Jane Milburn bioJane Milburn OAM believes in the power of adaptation in the natural world and her own. After agricultural science and leadership study applied to a career in rural communications and advocacy, Jane navigated a unique pathway to influence change in the way we dress. She is the founder of Textile Beat, author of Slow Clothing: finding meaning in what we wear, and applies permaculture principles in the wardrobe through a focus on natural fibres, regenerating agency and living simply. Jane recently completed her Churchill Fellowship investigating ways hands-on upcycling helps reduce textile waste and enhance wellbeing. In 2022, she was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for service to fashion sustainability.

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