Every year in the UK 1 million tonnes of clothes that could be reused are in landfill sites. This schools project will use garments and their country of origin as a basis for workshops with young people exploring cultural identity, global citizenship and consumption.

Most UK high-street garments are made in are Bangladesh, India, China, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Philippines. The scheme is aimed at raising awareness of textile recycling among children and to show how essential it is for everyone in the ‘developed world’ to consider their consumption and the impact that this has on others around the world. The programme will also seek to stimulate creativity, innovation and design-led thinking in young people.

This cultural learning will form the inspiration for a series of textile designs created by the young people which will be printed on to recycled fabrics. These printed fabrics will be combined with the original garments into a wearable new piece of clothing. Over the course of the project 150 garments will be created by young people and showcased as part of the annual Belfast Mela festival.