Every second, a truckload of clothes is burned or buried in landfill somewhere in the world. In the UK alone, around 300,000 tonnes of textiles end up in black bins each year – most of it destined for incineration or landfill. That’s a staggering waste of resources, creativity and opportunity.
But here in Frome, the story is different. This September, our town once again joins cities and communities across the UK, and beyond – for Sustainable Fashion Week 2025, with the brilliant Everyone Needs Pockets textile network hosting a hub for the third year running, supported by Green and Healthy Frome and Edventure’s Future Shed.
This year’s theme, Fashion Reclaimed, is all about celebrating the power we each hold to reclaim our wardrobes, our sense of style, and our impact on the planet. Instead of treating clothes as disposable, we can mend, re-wear, re-imagine and re-love what we already have.
A weekend of making, mending and re-imagining
On Saturday 27 September, Frome Town Hall will be buzzing with creativity for a free Make & Mend Day – open to all ages. Expect hands-on activities like visible mending, darning, weaving on a giant loom, and rope-making with Sanne Visser’s ingenious machine that transforms old fabric into new rope. Bring along your broken or unloved clothes and learn how simple repairs can breathe new life into them.
Bookable workshops add extra inspiration: Kids Scrap Studio with Claire and Tamara, Visable Mending for kids with the Slow Stitch Club, embroidery insects with Cathy Plummer, upcycling ideas with Anna Fraenkel, and practical mending skills with Everyone Needs Pockets volunteers. Thanks to National Lottery funding, workshops are on a sliding scale with some free places available.
The fashion fun continues all weekend. Swap something old for something new-to-you at the Frome Wardrobe Collective Clothes Swap on Saturday evening. Browse the Retold Fashion Preloved and Vintage Fair on Sunday 28 September, and learn traditional repair skills with Slow Stitch Club’s sashiko and darning workshops. Then, on Sunday 5 October, Sewing the Seeds Frome rounds out the programme with a Flax and Nettle Fair in Rodden Meadow, celebrating textiles grown and made locally.
Why it matters
The global fashion industry consumes enormous amounts of water and energy, creates mountains of waste and microplastic pollution, and drives unsustainable demand for raw materials. According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, this throwaway approach is not only an environmental disaster – it’s also “economically fragile,” wasting financial value at every stage.
By reclaiming our clothes instead of discarding them, we can turn this story around. Each patch, stitch, and swap saves carbon, water and money, while creating community and celebrating creativity.
Join the movement
Frome has always been a place where resourcefulness and imagination thrive. Sustainable Fashion Week is our chance to show how communities can come together to make small, joyful changes with big impacts.
So bring your clothes, your curiosity and your creativity, and be part of the wardrobe revolution.
👉 Make & Mend Day: Saturday 27 September, Frome Town Hall
👉 Clothes Swap: Saturday evening, 27 September
👉 Retold Fashion Preloved & Vintage Fair + Slow Stitch Club workshops: Sunday 28 September
👉 Flax & Nettle Fair: Sunday 5 October, Rodden Meadow
Let’s reclaim fashion – together.
Credit: Photography taken by Celie Nigoumi