Cathy, upcycling and raising children

An upcycled dress made by Cathy and modeled by Jasmine

Cathy (my partner) has just been featured in Textile Beat, a website about slow clothing, dressing with conscience and natural fibres.

The associated story discusses Cathy’s passion for upcycling as a way of challenging consumerism and over-consumption, our approach to parenting, and the outfit she created for the Slow Clothing Project (beautifully modeled by our daughter Jasmine above). The outfit was made out of 15 T-shirts and 4 pairs of jeans.

To quote a couple of things from the story:

Cathy Stuart from Newcastle in New South Wales believes that the act of making something, particularly from reused or old stuff, can create a deep sense of satisfaction, achievement and self-worth for the maker. Resourcefulness and resilience are enhanced. Being able to re-use and re-purpose an object is, in Cathy’s view, a key skill in becoming more environmentally sustainable. It reduces our need to consume new resources as well as makes us responsible for managing our own waste…

“With raising our two daughters, it is very important to us that we challenge the normal way our society consumes. Inherent in driving consumerism is the need to ensure that people are dissatisfied with what they have, who they are and what they look like. I believe this dissatisfaction is driven by advertising, magazines (fashion, beauty, home and lifestyle), TV shows (lifestyle, reality), high usage of social media and going shopping, and is contributing to increased levels of depression and anxiety in our young people (as well as older generations).”

I admit I’m biased, but the whole article is well worth a read.

If you liked this post please follow my blog (top right-hand corner of the blog), and you might like to look at:

1. A passion for upcycling
2. Parenting for a better world
3. Being a father
4. What’s your parenting style?
5. Hmm, that’s an evil plan!
6. 10 ways to reduce your consumption