My personal story arriving at ecoBelle
My long-term romance with sewing and recycled clothing began as a very young child in the early 70’s, way before it was cool to buy second hand clothing. It was a passion born of necessity and being the youngest of 7 children (5 of which were sisters) I was the proud heiress of my older sisters’ ‘hand-me-downs’. We lived in a very small town in outback Queensland so there were no department stores. There was the local drapery store, but my mother only went in there to buy her haberdashery and basic essentials. We couldn’t afford new clothes, so it was best not to flounder around coveting the latest fashions on display.
I remember the first time I ever walked into a second-hand store. We were on holiday visiting my grandfather in the ‘Big Smoke’. He was managing a huge second-hand store in an old run-down theatre. This place was like the Disneyland of clothing to me. I have memories of staring up at the mannequins looking so majestic and life like. What an important role they had standing in that same perfect pose all day, embellished it their beautiful and thoughtfully put together outfits with handbags to match! I was in clothing heaven walking down aisle after aisle of eclectic and brightly coloured clothes all set out in their well organised categories. My love of fashion was ignited.
Back home our local second-hand shop was nothing like my Grandfather’s store, but still my mother and I would optimistically sift for hidden treasures. One day my next-door neighbour gave me a gorgeous black Barbie doll that she didn’t want but unfortunately, the doll had no clothes. My friend would kindly let me borrow her doll’s clothes when we played Barbies together, but I decided my doll needed her own wardrobe. I made her clothes out of donated clothing from the second-hand store and offcuts from my mother’s sewing. Before I knew it, my second-hand Barbie doll had her own custom made, designer collection!
Today I still love wearing, recycling, upcycling, and repurposing clothes for living dolls. It has been a favourite hobby of mine since my childhood, making clothes for my Barbie. I also worked as a fashion model for over 10 years during the ‘90s selling second-hand designer clothing to women at fundraiser clothing auctions. We helped raise funds for schools, clubs, and charities all over the Gold Coast.
Now however, recycling and upcycling clothes and fabrics has never been more important. The availability of fast fashion has had devastating effects on our environment by creating harmful greenhouse gas emissions. The pressure to reduce costs and speed up production time means that environmental corners are cut in the name of profit. A staggering 6 tonnes every 10 minutes goes into Australian landfills. That’s 500,000 tonnes per year! Each and every one of us can do our part in helping save the planet by purchasing sustainable fashion.