Community events...
This year, I had the great pleasure of working on a national PR campaign that shone a light on community initiatives in post-lockdown communities. During the pandemic, the world got creative in hosting many different gatherings, classes, and clubs – all hosted online. I felt a great sense of community at this time. However, nothing can quite replace human interaction face-to-face.
While working on this campaign my eyes were opened to the volume of events and gatherings that take place in our communities daily (that perhaps we did not know existed). All you have to do is open a search engine such as Eventbrite, type in your local area and lists of local events will appear.
One trend I came across was several repair shops, clothes exchanges and upcycle groups. The concept was simple, take along an old item of clothing and either exchange it for a different garment or repair / remodel it into something new. What a great concept. There are the most fabulous groups of craft people and artisans willing to skills share and teach you how.
Repair & Recycle...
As a mum of three girls (who all love clothes), I like the fact that these groups take away a throw-away mentality. teaching my children to utilise their creativity to design something new, I thought this was fabulous.
We have been along to a local group with our garments to reuse and had a super time learning to chop them up and repurpose them. We had great fun learning new skills and utilising our individuality. It doesn’t matter if the items no longer fit as you can combine different garments. We will now all think twice about what we throw away and instead think about what can we repair and recreate!
Take a look at what is available in your area. You might just find a wonderful community group on your doorstep!
Gemma White
MBS PA
