Behind Closed Drawers market returns to save old clothes from the scrapheap

Market organiser Rhea Gillie said the event was about giving people the opportunity to find new homes for clothing that would otherwise end up in landfill, and to save money on winter essentials.

Running from 11am to 2pm the hall hosted 30 stalls, and saw hundreds of punters come through eager to find new and rare items.

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"Twenty-three kilograms of textiles go into landfill every year per person in Australia, so we really want to reduce that amount by putting them into a new home, instead of putting them in the bin," Ms Gillie said.

"People are turning to preloved rather than buying new not just for the environmental impacts, but for the financial impacts as well. It's much cheaper to get things pre loved here".

Ensuring nothing goes to waste at the end of the day, stall owners are offered the opportunity to donate leftover clothing to local charity Shekinah House's Shop 4 Hope op-shop, with money raised going towards supporting the city's homeless.

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Ms Gillie, who has been running the event for the past six years, said the community had been supportive of the event with many stallholders returning year after year.

"We have regulars that come every year, lining up at the door waiting to come in and check out what this market will have on offer for them," she said.

Stallholder Judi Howell has worked in the fashion industry for decades and said the market provided an opportunity to socialise, meet new people, and give old items a new lease on life.

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"It's just such a shame that some things are bought and worn only once or twice, and then people dispose of them. I mean, if anybody can get new love out of them, why not recycle," she said.

"It's a sin to throw good clothing out - I'm not here doing this just to make money, it's to help people get a good quality item at a fraction of the price."

A report by the National Clothing Textile Waste roundtable last year revealed Australians were the second highest consumers of textiles per person in the world, behind the United States.

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It estimated that 93 per cent of the clothes purchased each year in Australia, equating to 800,000 tonnes, are thrown out, saying a circular textile economy was needed to reduce wastage.

Behind Closed Drawers market will run again on August 20, and is currently taking applications for stall holders.

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