MEDIA RELEASE
19 August 2026
Upcycled designer garments take Nyoongar stories to New Zealand Fashion Week
A collection made from donated pre-loved clothing, upcycled by collective artwork and other materials including kangaroo skins, will carry the stories of Nyoongar women from Western Australia to New Zealand Fashion Week this Friday.
The collection will feature in Pacific Fusion Runway on Friday 21 August at 8:30 pm.
The garments were created by Nyoongar women from two WA organisations: Voice of Hope, a community group connecting Aboriginal women to culture and learning their ancestral ways of healing; and social enterprise Deadly Denim, led by Nyoongar designer Rebecca Barlow, a lecturer at Curtin University.
The project is supported by researchers from the Sustainable Communities and Waste (SCaW) Hub and the Curtin School of Design and the Built Environment, who study the environmental, social and economic benefits of textile reuse for Aboriginal communities.
“This is about giving discarded clothing a new life and a new story,” says Ms Barlow. “The women created something they’re proud of, that will be seen on an international stage.”
Associate Professor Pia Interlandi says the runway show is a starting point for further work in community. “The show is not the end of the project,” she says. “It creates momentum for new skills, workshops, and more opportunities to reuse clothing when the group returns home.”
SCaW Hub researchers will document the experience with the participants’ consent, including their responses to seeing the collection presented. The group will then reflect on the experience through yarning and video workshops in Western Australia.
Hub researcher Dr Roberto Minunno, a circular economy expert from Curtin University, says the research will examine what enables textile reuse, repair and upcycling in Aboriginal communities, including the skills and support needed to sustain the work.
“These processes have great potential to apply circular economy principles to textile waste,” he says.
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