Douglas Shire will host a two-day "ReLoved" clothing reuse weekend on 17–18 October 2026 at the Port Douglas Community Hall, featuring repair and upcycling workshops, a community garage sale and a display of old denim works, running daily from 9am to 1pm.

Key points

  • Dates: 17–18 October 2026, venue: Port Douglas Community Hall, daily 9:00–13:00.
  • Maureen Bourke, owner of local tailoring studio Elle & Stuart, will exhibit 10 pieces from the "disposable paradise" project, with a single piece using up to 8 pairs of old jeans.
  • Two short demonstrations will show how to deconstruct old jeans and re-draft new pieces directly on a dress form.

Old jeans become new clothes, four to eight pairs per piece

The "ReLoved" weekend is positioned around "making, mending, reusing and re-wearing", aimed at people who want to learn new skills, give old clothes a longer life, clear out their wardrobes or hunt for second-hand treasures.

Maureen Bourke, who runs the Port Douglas cutting and alterations studio Elle & Stuart, will bring 10 pieces from her project "disposable paradise". She explains that the project, launched locally earlier this year, is a creative response to clothing waste and fast fashion: it began when Jo from the NicNak Shed called to say the shop had a large backlog of surplus denim and asked whether she could put it to use.

Every piece in "disposable paradise" is made from discarded, donated or unused clothing, especially denim. Bourke says one piece consumes roughly four discarded pairs of jeans, while larger pieces use up to eight; at one point, having bought so much from the NicNak Shed, she was half-jokingly "banned" from buying more during the cold spell so that jeans could be left for local residents.

In her view, these pieces must be wearable and good-looking, and each carries its own story about waste, mending, reuse and giving clothes a second life. The project has previously appeared at the Mossman Show, the NicNak fashion parade, Zero Waste Week and the Bushy Creek makers' market.

Deconstruction demos and a community garage sale

During the event, Bourke will also give two short demonstrations showing how she takes apart old jeans and begins making new-season pieces directly on a mannequin.

Douglas Shire Mayor Lisa Scomazzon has also publicly backed clothing recycling. She says the point of the ReLoved weekend is to bring the community together, rethink what we throw away and see the value in what we already own; the "Sew sustainably" session will teach practical mending and alteration skills, while the community garage sale gives people the chance to clear out unused items, find a bargain and give idle goods a new life.

What it means for the industry

The event showcases the practical "old clothes—deconstruction—remaking" pathway at community scale: the main material is discarded denim circulating locally, the output is wearable finished products and repair skills, and organisers and the local government frame it as a way to keep textiles out of the waste stream. For anyone interested in localised textile reuse, handmade upcycling and second-hand circulation, it is a replicable community model.

Source: How to easily ‘relove’ old clothes | Cairns Local News - Free to read No subscriptions | Local News covering Sport, Entertainment, Real Estate, Community & Business News for Port Douglas, Mossman, Dai · Originally published 2026-10-14