Grand designs on zero waste

As part of its campaign to ‘show consumers the true value of their discarded clothing’, Zero Waste Scotland, in partnership with the Salvation Army Trading Company Limited, is offering two exciting 12 week paid internship opportunities for a fashion designer and a textile designer to create new collections from post-consumer, donated clothing.

Zero Waste Scotland’s textiles manager Lynn Wilson said:

“This exciting new project with the Salvation Army Trading Company aims to show Scots the true value of their clothes and how, with a little love and attention, the item they may intend to throw out could in fact be turned in to something more valuable for the current or new owner. It’s also a terrific opportunity for designers based in Scotland, so please send us your applications now.”

The Salvation Army Trading Company has 52 charity shops in Scotland as well as thousands of recycling banks. Each year they receive around 30,000 tonnes of donated textiles in the UK, which helps raise vital funds for the charity’s work.

Forming part of the Love Your Clothes campaign, the two selected designers will have to choose 150kg of fabric from the 5 tonne selection of unwanted clothing. Once the internships are complete, each new collection will be individually and independently valued to demonstrate how much revenue could be created and saved through a closed loop circular economy.

Further information can be found on the Zero Waste Scotland website.