ReFashion Week returns to NYC this weekend

ReFashion Week, a series of events designed to reduce textile waste in New York City, is set to resume this weekend after being postponed by the Omicron variant in February. The event is hosted by the Sanitation Foundation, the official non-profit partner of the New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY), and donateNYC, a program established by the Sanitation Department in 2016 with the mission of reducing needless waste and increasing the diversion of reusable material from landfills. This work is vital in helping the city meet its zero waste goals.

The ReFashion Week effort, now in its fourth year, is designed to help New Yorkers reimagine alternatives for textile waste and learn how to be more sustainable. This year’s series of events will feature a vintage and upcycled pop-up market in an Astoria community garden, a silent auction with proceeds going to zero-waste programing, a panel discussion about how wardrobes can help heal the world, and workshops that teach sock darning, mending, and how to refashion discarded sample garments.

The events will include both in-person and online offerings like a virtual tour of the Eileen Fisher studio to show how their team accomplishes its circularity efforts by taking damaged clothes back and transforming them into new designs. In-person events will take place around the city at different venues from the Canvas Bowery, a store that only sells items that meet at least a few of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, to the Soho House New York, as well as at the New Women Space, a community event space in Brooklyn led by women and gender nonconformists, which will host a clothing shop and swap event. The finale event will be the annual ReFashion Runway Show, held at the Brooklyn Army Terminal Annex Building on Friday, April 8, where stylists and designers will show their thrifted and upcycled looks and compete for a panel of judges.

ReFashion Week takes place April 2–8, 2022 and a full list of programming can be found at refashionnyc.org.