Coming up on Saturday, September 27th from 10 am to 1 pm is an all-ages Clothing Swap, Textiles Repair & Upcycling event. The event is hosted by GIRR and held at the Galiano South Hall at 141 Sturdies Bay Road. We are still looking for volunteers, so if you’d like to help, please email Renée at galianorecycles@gmail.com.
Our multi-focus textiles events have been blossoming into a thriving community affair. Come with your clothing items for swapping, textiles in need of repair by our on-site menders, (Melissa R. & Hanna K.), and the curiosity for learning new ways of upcycling textiles.
We will have demonstrations on hand-mending, deconstruction of clothing items for reuse (by Anna K.), and an upcycling project (with Oleann) that you can do using excess materials from our clothing swap.
A spare sewing machine will also be available for anyone who wants to do their own repair. In the world of fast fashion and low quality garments, finding creative ways to repair or upcycle textiles is essentially activism by saving all these materials from the landfill. Come and be a textiles activist with us!
A note about the swap: Our primary goal in hosting swap and repair events is to keep items in circulation. After we’re done swapping, most items that don’t go back into homes on Galiano will be sent to a charity shop. The reality is only saleable clothing (think cleanliness, seasonal relevance, and condition) is of value to thrift stores. And if our donations are of no value, they could be only one stop away from the landfill or from being shipped overseas to become someone else’s problem. Of course this is something we’d all like to avoid! So please bring your lightly worn clothing freshly laundered and in season to give it the best chance of finding a new home.
Looking forward to seeing you there!
