Rose Chong describes herself as “a maker”. She studied dressmaking and then design at an art school in the UK, and opened her ICONIC costume store, Rose Chong Costumiers, on Gertrude Street in 1979, making costumes for the film industry and for rental for parties or other occasions. Rose has spent over 60 years as a costumier, finding ways to reduce, reuse and recycle wherever possible.
10:30
11:30
In 2021, Yesha, a former fast fashion enthusiast, embarked on the gruesome task of decluttering her long-neglected wardrobe. As she sought ethical and sustainable ways to part with her well-worn, non-donatable clothes (“unwearables”), she was pursuing her Masters of Entrepreneurship at the University of Melbourne.
Yesha is based in Melbourne, currently working on the start-up, After, at the Fishermans Bend Circular Design Collective, on the ethical disposal of unwanted clothing. Her passion lies in sustainable and circular fashion to ensure we take care of our beautiful environment. She has a B.Com degree from The University of Auckland with an Information Systems and Innovation and Entrepreneurship major. She recently completed her Masters of Entrepreneurship at the University of Melbourne where she won the Best Pitch award.
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Yesha will also be at the After stall in J01.
12:30
Owen is a seasoned tech founder with a strong background in launching and advising startups across hospitality, AI, healthcare, finance and fashion. As the founder of Hello Tailr, an online clothing repairs and alterations platform, he combines his experience in technology with customer-centric solutions to accelerate the shift toward a circular fashion future.
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Own will also be at the Hello Tailr stall in J01.
12:30
Dr Emily Brayshaw is internationally recognised for her work on the visual culture of fashion and performance costume. She is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Technology Sydney and was recently lauded by UTS as one of their top experts who reached a total estimated media audience of more than 1 million for their work and commentary in 2023.
Emily's inter-disciplinary research examines the past, present, and future of critical fashion and performance costume with a focus on identities, material costume, embodiment and costume design methodology from the nineteenth-century to the present day. She has held her Honorary Fellowship since 2019, where she has strongly contributed to the academic disciplines of critical costume and fashion studies through her research and practice. At the same time, Emily contributes to the arts in Sydney, working as a costume designer on critically acclaimed theatrical productions and as the principal viola of the Woollhara Philharmonic Orchestra.
Katrina Naish is the founder and director of A Fitting Connection, a certified social enterprise addressing the growing issue of textile waste through education, upcycling, and community-driven initiatives. With over 20 years’ experience in the fashion and textile industry, Katrina brings both expertise and a strong passion for sustainability.
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In 2024 and 2025, she opened Creative Community Space and The Fabric ReStore, which host sewing classes and a fabric recovery centre that redirects unused materials back into circulation while modelling circular economy practices. Through her work, Katrina empowers students, volunteers, and organisations to see waste as a resource and become part of the solution.
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Katrina will also be at the Fabric ResStore stall in J01 with 'last chance' fabrics up for grabs.
2:30
Stalls
Interactive
Colectiva Abya Yala
Formed in 2017 in Naarm (Melbourne), Colectiva Abya Yala is a collective of Latin American migrant women working across art and research. Drawing on textile traditions, performance and collaborative practice, the group engages with ecofeminism, memory and migration from a Latin American perspective. Their projects include Weaving Water, a transdisciplinary residency between Mexico and Australia, La Fiesta de la Chakra, a documentary exploring solstice traditions, and several community events supported by the Flourish Art Recovery Grants. They have collaborated with LATIR, Blak Dot Gallery, Yo Soy Collective, Pasifika Storytellers, Make or Break Experiment and Chilean artist Anis.
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​This session will create a shared space for storytelling, reading and reflection around the arpillera and a selected reading material. Observe, listen or participate in this weaving circle led by La Colectiva.
Milpera Room
Conscious Creations
Fiona is a Banyule local, an early childhood teacher, and mother of two. She is passionate about upcycling, and amongst other things, makes accessories out of small, discarded plastic items which are difficult to recycle and often find their way into our natural environment. This practice she calls, Conscious Creations, and she enjoys sharing these skills and knowledge with others, young and old.
Stalls
After
After is an Australian textile recovery service helping households, schools, and businesses give unwanted textiles and clothing a second life. By making textile recycling easy and accessible through doorstep collections and partnerships, After has already diverted over 55,000 kilograms of textiles from landfill - turning waste into new opportunities for upcycling, and recycling.
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Come chat to Yesha Patel, the founder of After, at the festival to learn how you can recycle textiles responsibly and be part of a more curcular future.
Apawrel
Apawrel is Melbourne’s eco-friendly label for dogs and their humans, creating clothing, toys, and accessories from repurposed materials. Unapologetically different, each piece is ethically produced to reduce waste and celebrate sustainability and celebrates that special bond between dog and their human.
Banyule Primary School
Banyule Primary School (BPS) is committed to providing a caring, nurturing environment where children are aware and responsible for contributing to a sustainable future for our planet. Learning about Sustainability is embedded into all areas of the curriculum at BPS from Foundation to Year 6, and they are proudly a "nude food" school. The Sustainability Action Team, facilitated by Sustainability Coordinator, Bree Klein, has been busy this year learning about the importance of biodiversity and planning a new pollinator garden now that all the building on site is complete. Come and chat with them about seed collection and even take home a sample for your own garden to attract those vital pollinators.
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The BPS team are also excited to be sharing their sustainability journey with you. Come make seed bombs or grab a seed pack from their stall.
A Fitting Connection/The Fabric ReStore
A Fitting Connection and The Fabric ReStore are certified social enterprises with a clear mission — to keep textiles out of landfill. We approach this challenge from all angles, combining education, creativity, and community action.
We rescue beautiful, high-quality fabrics that once belonged to people who grew up sewing — not just out of necessity, but out of love for the craft. Sadly, as consumer culture and fast fashion have grown, sewing skills haven’t always been passed down through generations. These treasured fabrics now need new custodians — and that’s where we come in.
Through Creative Community Space & The Fabric ReStore, we give these materials a second chance by connecting them with makers, creators, and businesses who value their quality and story. Meanwhile, through our workshops and classes, we teach practical life skills in sewing, mending, and upcycling — empowering people to create, repair, and reduce waste.
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The Fabric ReStore stall will have "last chance" frabrics for a gold coin donation.
Oxfam Australia
Oxfam’s What She Makes campaign calls on major fashion brands to pay a living wage to the women who make our clothes. These mostly women workers, in countries like Bangladesh and China, are paid poverty wages despite brands earning huge profits. The campaign exposes exploitation in fashion supply chains and pushes for corporate accountability. A new focus of the campaign is advocating for responsible business laws that require companies to conduct environmental and human rights due diligence—so they prevent harm before it occurs. By linking fair pay, human rights, and sustainability, What She Makes works to create a fairer, more sustainable fashion industry.
Woolybutt Knitting
Woolybutt is Melbourne’s premier wool supplies shop, located in Rosanna, Victoria. With over 50 years of service to the knitting and crocheting community, Woolybutt positions itself as a one-stop destination for all things knitting. The shop offers a wide range of high-quality supplies and personalised services tailored to crafters of all skill levels, from beginners to experts.
Hello Tailr
Hello Tailr is an online platform making clothing repairs and alterations easy for everyone. Customers can choose from door-to-door service, mail-in, and printer-free drop-off at more than 7,500 locations nationwide, helping keep garments in use longer and out of landfill. Most orders are completed by social enterprise partners, generating meaningful employment and skills development for people facing barriers to work. Hello Tailr also extends its service to fashion brands, enabling them to build repairs and alterations into the online shopping experience helping reduce returns, strengthen customer loyalty, and enable circular business models.
Waratah Developmental Special School
Waratah Developmental Special School offers a garden program to students in the middle and senior years. The students' plant, nurture and eventually eat the fruits and vegetables that are grown in the kitchen garden. A lot of the produce is used in Homecrafts classes, where the students pick, wash, cook and then eat their creations, experiencing the whole 'farm to fork' concept. Last year (2024), the school was the fortunate recipient of a ‘Greener North East Community' grant, allowing them to build inclusive raised garden beds (in partnership with Farm Raiser), giving all their students access to gardening activities on the farm. In preparation for The Slow Festival, students have participated in a survey about their favourite fruit and vegetables and then painted designs of their favourite fruits and vegetables from the kitchen garden on calico bags. Come and check out the beautiful results of their hard work!
NCAT
Trish Peach teaches the Certificate II in Apparel, Fashion and Textiles at Northern College of the Arts and Technology, bringing a passion for practical, project-based learning to each lesson. For the VET Gala, Trish guided her final-year students in creating Disney-inspired costumes using upcycled fabrics from the sewing room. Each garment showcases the students' technical skills while maintaining a clear connection to their chosen Disney characters. This sustainable approach not only developed their construction techniques but also fostered creativity and environmental consciousness. Trish's hands-on teaching philosophy empowers students to transform concepts into wearable art, preparing them for real-world fashion industry challenges while celebrating their imaginative interpretations of beloved characters.