Jubilee dress is a winner in throwaway fashion project

Three talented design students have had their creative ideas recognised as part of a project run by Gloucestershire College’s Forest of Dean campus and the Forest of Dean District Council’s waste team.

The initiative aimed to raise awareness of the impact the clothing industry has on the environment. Students were tasked with producing an item of clothing made by reusing an old denim garment and one other unwanted item.  The denim was kindly provided by BCR, the West Bromwich based company that empties the district’s textiles banks.

From the finished garments three were chosen to receive special recognition with prizes kindly donated by Biffa.

First prize went to Harriet Foster for her Union Jack dress with Marie Boulton’s cut out dress getting second prize and the denim dress with leopard print belt created by Lucy Pearson receiving the third prize.

Gloucestershire College tutor Clare Padfield, who coordinated the project said: “This is the third year that we have joined up with the council for this project to promote the reuse of textiles. It has really got the students thinking about how textiles impact our environment and it’s been exciting to see their creations.”

Cllr Martin Quaile, cabinet member for the Environment said: “We were really pleased to work with the college on this project again – the standard of work produced by the students involved was very impressive. In the UK we throw away over a million tonnes of textiles annually but only 13% will be recovered through clothing banks and charity shops. In Gloucestershire it’s estimated that some 10,000 tonnes of textiles end up in our landfill sites every year but much of this could be avoided as most textiles can be easily recycled, as these young people have demonstrated.”