Clothes Call: Change it, don't bin it

The fashion industry experiences a high turnover rate — with the rising popularity of Instagram, your #ootd can be worn only once, or it would appear that you 'keep wearing the same clothes'. Instead of throwing, selling or giving away your clothes, why not re-purpose them to give them a second life?

Students from the LASALLE College of the Arts Diploma in Fashion have taken up an assignment worthy of Project Runway, using no less than 270 articles of unwanted garments!

We were invited to an exclusive hands-on workshop hosted by Clothes Call to re-purpose our apparel. I brought a plain tote bag, Hazel brought a formal white shirt and Luna had a black T-shirt.

We did some stamping— and many of the materials used were simple household tools. For example, we used rolling pins with cut-out pieces of styrofoam glued to them. It took a lot of creativity and imagination!

Luna's lovely hand-made shirt for her boyfriend!

So what's the point of re-purposing clothes? In just 2013 alone, 156,600 tonnes of textiles/leather waste were generated in Singapore. Only a mere 10% was recycled. Singapore currently faces the problem of waste saturation and limited space for landfills. Clothes re-purposing extends the lifespan of your apparel, thereby reducing the amount of waste generated!

You can also try silkscreening, and it seems pretty easy from Clothes Call's video.

I feel as though my very own customised tote bag is somehow more precious than those bought from the shops. I guess that's because it took time and effort to design!

Interested to know more? Find out about Clothes Call by clicking here.