Nina Gbor is a Canberra stylist with a passion for waste reduction.
She runs clothes swaps, provides one-on-one styling advice and is planning workshops which include tours to three op shops, styling tips and refreshments.
At primary school in the United States she remember clearly beings impacted by a lesson about the ozone layer. Following that class (and much to her mother’s dismay) she sorted through their rubbish bin at their apartment block to gather the recyclables.
Nina loves quality natural fibres and vintage garments. Her affair with vintage clothes started in Nigeria. On her first op shop visit as a teenager, Nina fell for a green velvet dress. She said
“My world literally changed, I saw this green velvet vintage dress, which reminded me of ‘Gone with the Wind”.
After viewing the 2015 documentary The true cost: who pays the price for our clothing Nina became a sustainability ambassador.
She was shocked seeing the impact fast fashion was having on the environment and people. The fashion industry is attributed as the world’s number two polluting industry, second only to oil.
Pesticides used on cotton crops are attributed to causing cancer clusters and polluting waterways.
The movie also illustrates the impact of fast fashion on women and children who work in the industry in developing countries. Nina says:
‘it begins and ends with women’.
Nina observes that lots of people don’t have a style – they are dictated by the fast fashion industry.
If you caught episode three of a War on Waste you will understand the impact that mindless consumption and the power of social media can have on us. The three young women featured feel they can’t be captured (in Instagram pictures) twice in the same outfit. For some of them, this means buying new garments on a daily or weekly basis. Along comes a more enlightened stylist who shows them that they can swap their clothes with one another!
Advocates like Nina, challenge the assumption that excess consumption of fast fashion is a necessary part of 21st century life.
We need more women saying ‘no’ to fast fashion and finding other ways to express themselves.
You can follow Nina on:
Sustainable Threads - a one year challenge to buy no new clothes 