Category Archives: Rubbish Renewed

Thank You Bend!

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The Pavilion indoor/outdoor environment was the perfect setting for the 12th annual Rubbish Renewed Eco Fashion Show! Sunny, not too hot, spring weather created the relaxed vibe adding to the festive, fashion-forward fun. Bendites perused the sustainable marketplace, local beverages and food, and most prominently interacted with re-envisioning rubbish both on and off the runway. It was a captivating event!

Thank you Bend for once again coming out to celebrate sustainability, creativity, student inspiration, and more! You rock!

Rubbish Renewed 2024 at the Pavilion. Photo by Erika Miller
Designer: Harriet Langmas. Model: Kaylee Carlton. Photo by Joe Kline

And the 2024 Business Challenge Winner is…

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It was a tight vote this year for the Business Challenge winner with 8 creative garments presented by 8 unique businesses (Restore, Gear Fix, Lonza, Humm, Brave, Jackson’s Corner, OAS, and Bend Anesthesiology Group) who take their sustainability seriously.

And the winner is Gear Fix taking home the 2024 Rubbish Renewed Coveted Trash Trophy for their 1st time in 4 competition. Congratulations Gear Fix! We hope you display this trophy prominently.

CAMP-TORIAN Designers: Nico Brilmyer, Kasey Boyd, Ethan Engemann Model: Avalon Disko Photo by: Melissa Barnes-Dholakia

More photos to come soon!

1 Day Away! Business Challenge Preview

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Excitement is building for the The Rubbish Renewed Eco Fashion Show Business Challenge competition just 1 day away! 8 businesses dedicated to sustainable practices, are coming together to celebrate sustainability, support Realms education, and compete for the Coveted Trash Trophy!

Rob, of Trailers4Two, has created another beautiful, discarded-scrap-laminate Trash Trophy. One of the following Business Challenge participants will take the Coveted Trash Trophy home!

ReStore is competing in its 11th Business Challenge! That is every year (we didn’t have it year 1). At ReStore they must drink a lot of Yerba Mate, and with designer DeeDee Johnson’s incredible material manipulation it will be one unique piece. Gear Fix, back for their 4th Business Challenge, has a growing team of designers led by Nico Brilmyer and with that, a growing garment. This looks ready for the Met Gala!

Lonza, also back for their 4th Business Challenge. has repurposed their previous Business Challenge garments each year. This is its 4th reincarnation led by designer Kari D’Angona. Another returning businesses for their 3rd competition is Humm Kombucha who was back last year. Mother daughter team, Michelle Mitchell and Mae Plantenberg, create a patterned piece of plastic pallet wrap encased in outdated labels.

Brave Boutique, back in the Business Challenge with another Jen Ryker, bigger than life piece. As a boutique, packaging is the largest waste to deal with. Jen pulled out her power tools to create this armor. Although Jackson’s Corner has been involved in the past with Rubbish Renewed, this is their 1st Business Challenge! But designer Allison Murphy has had multiple designs in the Business Challenge over the years. Allison, one of the founders of Rubbish Renewed, is an outstanding designer and maker. We will all be blown away.

And joining this seasoned crew of Business Challenge participants for their first time are Oregon Adaptive Sports and Bend Anesthesiology Group! One of the few waste items OAS produces are single leftover gloves/mittens when one is lost, and popped bike tubes. Designer Martha Campbell meticulously quilted these gloves together to create this versatile jacket. Bend Anesthesiology Group is inspired to make an impact on hospital waste produced in the OR. They are currently exploring repurposing and recycling the large amount of blue polypropylene wrap going to the landfill. Their Business Challenge gown designed and created by a team of Anesthesiologists, RN’s and Radiology Techs, makes an impact on the environment and on the runway!

Bring your friends and your voting block to support your pick for the Coveted Trash Trophy!

Saturday May 11th at the Pavilion doors at 5:30pm! Get your tickets today!

Cosa Cura Supporting Community with Sustainable Style

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Since 2006 Cosa Cura has created an atmosphere of sustainable style, creativity, local support, and community service. A perfect companion for the Rubbish Renewed Eco Fashion Show. This unique business has partnered with Rubbish Renewed since our humble beginnings and is back for the second year of Presenting Sponsor!

Cosa Cura showing off Rubbish Renewed Trash Fashion from the past!

I’m not much of a current clothes shopper. Mostly because of *The Dark Side of Fast Fashion, but that’s not Cosa Cura. It’s my go-to spot to support local artists and purchase unique clothing pieces that will last and compliment my style!

Cosa Cura at Brookswood Meadow Plaza

As of this Spring, Cosa Cura now offers 2 locations supporting local artists and fashionistas with a locale to sell their designs alongside stylish reused fashion. This unique shop now bookends Bend, with one location in Northwest Crossing and the newly opened 2nd shop in Brookswood Meadow Plaza in Southwest Bend. The Plaza itself is worth a visit with a neighborhood atmosphere with local shops, services, and restaurants. Check out Cosa Cura’s new airy space and support local sustainably-minded, and community-supportive businesses!

*The Dark Side of Fast Fashion – “It dries up water sources and pollutes rivers and streams, while 85% of all textiles go to dumps each year...”

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The Sustainable Fashion Legacy of Harriet Langmas

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Rubbish Renewed is one lucky event to have a rich array of participants. Harriet Langmas, now in her 90’s, has been a staple at the Rubbish Renewed Eco Fashion Show. Always hosting a marketplace booth of her repurposed, discarded scraps that she knits & crochets into hats, scarves, vests, sweaters, and rugs; sews into stuffed chickens, gift bags, and pillows… and often creates garments for the runway. This year is no exception.

Locals donate their cast-off materials to the Presbyterian quilters and the quilters pass their scraps onto Harriet! Materials that others believe are too small to reuse become embellishments in Harriet’s pieces. We were lucky to visit her long time Bend home to see her current creations and listen to her stories.

Harriet’s Sustainable Fashion Legacy goes way back in Bend. It was the 1960’s when Harriett taught at COCC and started the “Displaced Homemakers,” the predecessor to today’s Clothing Connections (a joint venture between COCC and OSU, a free donated clothing service for students). Harriet created a seminar to prepare students for job interviews and a closet in the gym, to provide professional clothes to wear.

In 1972 Harriet appeared on the popular show “What’s My Line” showcasing her patchwork fashion. She once dressed 1st Lady Betty Ford in a patchwork skirt to watch the 4th of July fireworks, and had 3 phone numbers for Katharine Hepburn who she met when filming ”Rooster Cogburn” in Bend with John Wayne. Ms. Hepburn wanted to buy Harriet’s skirts on a whim to give as gifts.

Photo: Kimberly Teichrow Photography

Before leaving Harriet’s she shared her rule of 3, rule of 4, and rule of accessories: Rule of 3 – don’t take any clothes on a trip that doesn’t do at least 3 things. Rule of 4 – it is the 4th thing you put on that makes the pow! Rule of accessories – rhythm, cluster, pow!

Thanks Harriet for helping make the Rubbish Renewed Eco Fashion Show an incredible Bend Event!

Read this 2006 article in the Bend Bulletin to dig into Harriet’s fascinating legacy:

The Walk Our Talk Zero Waste Event System

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Thanks to The Environmental Center ReThink Waste and their Community Innovation Grant, Rubbish Renewed is creating the Walk our Talk Zero Waste Event System! It provides a loanable service/sorting/waste reduction system including reusable service-ware, collection tubs, signage, educational materials, and guide to create and promote a successful low-zero waste event!

Last weekend at the Banff Film Festival on Tour at the Tower Theater we were able to try it out on a small scale. They used 3 sizes of cups in the bar and the bus tubs and signage to keep 100’s of disposables out of the landfill!

We will have the full system up and running at The Rubbish Renewed Eco Fashion Show just 11 days away, on Saturday, May 11th. Get your Rubbish Renewed tickets today!

This system will be available to borrow starting Fall through our partnership with Bicycle Rides Northwest. This is a community effort to create access to reusables for more Central Oregonians!

Garment Submission Deadline April 5th – 1 week away!

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Just 1 week until the submission deadline at midnight on Friday, April 5th. Remember that you do not need to have your garment completed, but the further along you are, the easier it is for the jury to recognize your vision in your photos and artist renderings. Read the material guidelines carefully.  Here is the link to the Runway Submission Page. It doesn’t hurt to get your submission in early. Check out these materials from a few designs that have started to roll in!

Submit your garment design in just 3 EASY STEPS to be considered for the 12th Rubbish Renewed Eco Fashion Show on Saturday, May 11th

  1. Complete the Submission Form linked from the Runway Submission Page
  2. Pay Submission Fee
  3. Send 3 photos of your design

Complete the submission process by the deadline of midnight << Friday, April 5th >>

We can’t wait to see what you create!

Redmond Proficiency Academy Digs into Trash (Fashion)

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With the Rubbish Renewed season coming spring, people around Central Oregon are looking at trash with a new eye. What is the essence of the material? How can I make something from nothing? What impact can I have on contributing to a more sustainable earth?

RPA students dug into a trash fashion during their January winter intensives. They explored unconventional, tossed-away materials, visioned and drew, then started to work their magic with different techniques.

Working with trash is hard and inspiring. Here’s a few of their thoughts:

Juno: “The work is a lot of trial and error.”

Trinity: “It helps grow my creativity”

Asher: “It’s fun and interesting taking trash and turning it into something cool. It’s cool seeing other people’s creativity and their works of art.”

We’re hoping to see some of these finished pieces on the runway! Time to start thinking about the submission process.

What will you create?

Rubbish Renewed Eco Fashion Show Submission Deadline is Friday, April 5th for the May 11th event. Your garment does not have to be complete by the submission deadline, but the further along you are in the process, the more information the jury will have to make their decision.

Runway Submissions are Open

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It’s the designers, and their creativity, material manipulation, passion for fashion and our planet, that makes Rubbish Renewed unique, entertaining, and meaningful. Each year designers, like you, have made this one of the most coveted and exciting shows in Bend!

The Student and Adult Designer Submission Forms are up and will be open until the Garment Submission deadline at midnight on Friday, April 5th. For inspiration on the trash fashion creation process, student and adult designs, the runway show, the event, and our garment criteria, watch one or both of these short videos (3-4+ minutes – with some slightly different information):

Let us know what you are working on. We will highlight several designers again this year.  Spread the word and get designing! 

What will you Create?

How About that Diamond Runway by Flip Flop Sounds

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The first year at a new venue exploration and creativity reign. The second year you get to refine. We are thrilled to take what we learned from the 2023 revival of Rubbish Renewed and elevate it for the 2024 Rubbish Renewed Eco Fashion Show. One thing we loved was Flip Flop Sounds diamond runway!

A few of us were gathered with Courtney (the mastermind behind Flip Flop Sounds) at a local watering hole chatting about the Pavilion as a venue, and Courtney started to sketch ideas. The ideas blew our minds, and the diamond runway was born!

The Flip Flop Sounds magic happening!