BAS International Women’s Day Sustainable Fashion Show

BAS International Women’s Day Sustainable Fashion Show focuses on Circular Fashion highlighting 7 South Coast fashion brands. Circular fashion was the core theme at this week’s BAS International Women’s Day Event in Moruya with a fashion show held on Wednesday evening which highlighted 7 South Coast sustainable fashion brands.

Hosted by the Eurobodalla Council and supported by Reconnecting Regional - NSW Government, the evening was a great success in conjunction with a presentation from Artist Anna Glynn’s ‘Speaking Water’ Exhibition. Sustainable Fashion Event Co-ordinator and Founder of Circular Fashion South Coast, South Coast Sustainable Fashion Trail, Sustain ME and Fashion Revolution Bermagui, Yolanda del ValleBuetefuer presented the designers and their collections.

The highlight being a stunning collection of Hats by local Milliner, Anne Coulquitt and the fashion parade which provided a joyous representation of woman hood by Narelle Madden, Tia Tofu and Khobi Graham. Pambula based Mabel + Maimie designer Janine McDermott’s core business principle is to divert textiles from landfill.

Each piece is randomly designed and made from found prepurposed and end of rolls. Janine takes great effort to capture the story and history of her fabrics’ provenance, as well as educating her fashion clients. Style with A Purpose from Moruya takes high quality, uniquely designed recycled pieces in natural fibres such as cotton, linens and silk and upcycles them with their natural dying indigo technique.

Up-cycler Narelle Madden is dedicated to conscious fashion circularity and the responsible use of resources in the creation of her collections. Esther Jane designs and makes their stunning earing collections in Bermagui from sustainable eucalyptus Australian plantation timber. Designer Alison Baker as always demonstrating her exceptional design skills, quality and commitment as a South Coast sustainable designer/maker using multimedia techniques. Hats Savvy Milliner Anne Colquitt from Narooma, the first business in the Eurobodalla to receive a Sustainable 7 Innovation Business Award, only works with recycled fabrics.

From denim jeans, canvas painters drop sheets, brocades from past ball gowns and various wools and Polish linens. Japanese Creations designer Reiko Healy fabric dyes with natural indigo ink from her Bega workshop. Her collection also includes recycled Australian wool, repurposed vintage Indian cotton sourced locally, and upcycles garments using her tie dying techniques. Urban style Bermagui recycled brand Dressed to Death focuses on colour and high quality durable pieces. D2D advocate for less fashion waste, recycling of fashion, less production and less consumption of fashion.

‘With an increase of global sales of recycled fashion predicted to increase by 65% between 2020-2023, good quality recycled fashion is one of the core principles of keeping fashion circulating and is increasing in market share globally’ stated Yolanda.

Yolanda also took the opportunity to acknowledge women everywhere who work within the fashion industry which according to Fashion Revolution, up to 60 million women are garment workers and many more work further up the supply chain.

Yolanda described the many negative impacts of the fashion industry in particular fast fashion which the United Nations has recognised contributes up to 10% of global carbon emissions, contributes to 20% of global industrial wastewater which impacts communities and biodiversity directly, culls 150million tress annually for the production of viscose alone, contributes to 35% of micro-plastics found in our oceans which has now become a health via our food supply chain and significant soil degradation from heavy pesticides used in cotton farming, for example.

Each guest had a chance to purchase fashion items after the show and also took home a copy of the South Coast Sustainable Fashion Trail, which includes the 16 Principles of Fashion Circularity such as designing with purpose, longevity, resource efficiency, biodegradability, recyclability and with good ethics. The map also includes 128 suppliers of sustainable fashion from Wollongong to Eden. A number of these sustainable fashion suppliers will be attending this year’s Fashion Revolution Bermagui 2023, which will be held on April 29, at Bermagui Community Centre.

Paddle Out Narooma set for a showdown

The Paddle Out for Sanctuaries event scheduled for 11am, Sunday 12th of March at Bar Beach, Narooma, NSW might not be the smooth sailing that the organisers had wanted as counter protests take shape.

Nature Coast Marine Group and Australian Marine Conservation Marine Parks Campaign members have called on ocean lovers to gather for a paddle out at Bar Beach, Narooma, to show their support for NSW’s unique marine life and habitats, which they say "are suffering from poor levels of protection".

The organisers say that Narooma is close to one of NSW’s premiere snorkel and dive locations, Montague Island — one of 36 sanctuaries that have been opened to fishing. Australian Marine Conservation Society Marine Parks Campaigner Danielle Ryan said marine sanctuaries offer the highest level of protection for NSW’s marine life, yet since 2013 marine conservation has gone backwards in NSW.

“Our Aussie sanctuaries are home to creatures that can be found nowhere else on the planet — we need to do everything we can to protect and grow this network,” Ms Ryan said.

“Unfortunately, NSW has gone down the wrong path. The Batemans Marine Park community has been particularly hard hit by sanctuary losses.

“This does not make sense when we know marine sanctuaries can help Australia meet our goal of zero extinction loss. For example, they provide overfished species a refuge to recover and thrive, such as the critically endangered grey nurse shark, the vulnerable black cod, and NSW’s famous official Fish Emblem, the Blue Groper — otherwise known affectionately by ocean lovers as Bluey.”

Dane Wilmot, a recreational fisher and President of the Nature Coast Marine Group, said: “I see first-hand the impact we fishers have on the environment. We need some solid rules — fully protected marine sanctuaries are an investment into our future and for the survival of marine life and habitats.”

Dive Industry Association President Richard Nicolls said politicians need to listen to our expert marine scientists in NSW. “This paddle out represents a decade-long fight in need of an urgent resolution,” he said. “Currently, only 7% of NSW’s waters are highly protected from extractive activities such as seabed mining and commercial fishing — NSW needs to lift its game.”

University of Technology Sydney Professor of Marine Ecology David Booth said research is showing that marine sanctuaries are increasing diversity and abundance of marine life.

“Five years after the creation of the Batemans Marine Park, research showed that fish abundance was 38% higher inside the marine sanctuaries than in partially protected areas,” Professor Booth said.

“Yet, the government has opened up highly functional protected areas without any scientific reasoning for doing so. The science is unequivocal — we need marine sanctuaries to halt the mass extinction and climate crisis.”

Countering the call to reinstate sanctuary areas that "are suffering from poor levels of protection" is Rick Shaw who is calling for a community boycott of the Paddle Out event saying on Social Media: continues…...