Sarah Thompson opened her own shop dedicated to creating sustainable fashion in the Leeds Corn Exchange only 7 months ago. TOM-O is about taking pieces from your existing wardrobe and turning into something new.
“The brand is all about saving clothes from a landfill so what we do is work with different fabrics and garments, things that are going to be thrown away, cut them up and rework them and patchwork them into something new. Everything we make is completely one-off.”
She believes it’s important to teach people to mend and upcycle their own clothes to reduce the number of garments heading straight for landfills. Over 300,000 tonnes of used clothes go into landfills in the UK every year (Clothes Aid Charity).
“Fast fashion is a lot more accessible, so clothing is a lot cheaper and disregarded faster. When you buy fast fashion it’s one of thousands of units whereas people can come here and go away with a pair of jeans that no one else is going to have.”
Sarah runs weekly workshops with the hope that people attending can pick up skills and techniques to put their own spin on their old clothes and expand the life of garments. This evening she is holding the Patch & Punk Up event at her store.
“It’s a creative few hours where people can come in and do exactly what they want. They can bring a basic T-shirt that they don’t want anymore and when they leave its a revamped version that they can continue to wear and enjoy.”
The event is running from 6.30pm to 8.30pm this evening on the balcony at the Leeds Corn Exchange. It is open to everyone and tickets are £16.76 available on Eventbrite. All materials are provided just bring an item of your choice.
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