Paper clothing is on the catwalk but is it a solution to fast fashion?

Australia Broadcast Center

23-05-2025

Each year, the average Australian throws out about 11 kilograms of clothing, according to the latest National Waste Report.
But what if some of that could be composted?
It might sound surprising, but paper fashion has been around for centuries and while it remains far from the mainstream, interest is growing, according to Australian designer Anzara Clark.
She holds sold-out workshops to overcome people's misconceptions about the power of paper.
"I think in the West we see paper as something that's fragile … that we wrap things in and we write on," Ms Clark said.
"I've got a paper vest that I made as a prototype last year, and I've worn it 60 times and it's still in fantastic condition."
It's a long process to turn paper into a cloth that is not only durable, but also washable.
Ms Clark works with Japanese washi paper, made from the bark of the mulberry tree.
It takes her four to six days to process and dye each sheet.
Massaging products into the material is an intensive workout.
"I've got really strong hands … I often feel it in my shoulders and neck if I do too much in a day," Ms Clark said.
Fresh from Eco Fashion Week in Western Australia and Craft Lab in Ballarat, Victoria, where she lives, Ms Clark is fundraising in the hope of being able to accept an invitation to one of fashion's most prestigious Big Four events: London Fashion Week.
Ms Clark's international recognition seems a far cry from her early days experimenting with paper fashion.
"I was just messing around post-surgery in recovery from an operation … weaving some old Japanese account book pages together," Ms Clark said.
She went on to study traditional techniques in Korea and Japan, developing her own practice to make accessories and garments.
Melbourne-based designer and RMIT sessional academic Jake Nakashima-Edwards also works in the niche field.
He has researched the long history of paper fashion in Japan, where it spread from China around the 9th century.
"It was first worn [in Japan] by Buddhist monks who were kind of recycling or re-wearing the paper materials they were using to practise a calligraphy for Buddhist sutras," he explained.
Fast forward 800 years to the Edo period and paper was ubiquitous, forming products from farming wear to furniture.
"It's very, very strong, very durable, and was often coated with oils and starches that would increase that strength and durability or add … water resistant or waterproof properties."
Mulberry cloth traditions developed across the Asia-Pacific region, including in the Pacific Islands (tapa).
In the West, paper clothing rose in popularity in times of scarcity — such as post-war Germany ersatz (replacement) cloth.
In the 1960s, disposable paper garments were briefly taken up by celebrities like Andy Warhol.
But Mr Nakashima-Edwards says paper fashion fell out of favour in Japan with the rise of industrialisation, and it is now practised by few designers worldwide.
As a labour-intensive and therefore expensive product, neither Ms Clark nor Mr Nakashima-Edwards see it as a silver bullet to the problems of the fashion industry.
However, Mr Nakashima-Edwards says it provides a more sustainable alternative, both for its materials and for encouraging slow fashion.
"It also helps to … make you reassess: should I be buying all these clothes and just throwing them away?
"Or should I be repairing them and mending them and treating them with the care and the respect that they deserve?"
Studio assistant Rose Kudlicki agrees.
She modelled for Ms Clark ahead of Eco Fashion Week, and was terrified she would rip the garments when she needed to go to the bathroom.
Instead, she found the material much stronger and more flexible than she expected.
"It was so comfortable and it just is unexpectedly … very wearable."
She was so taken with the practice, she now works with Ms Clark as an intern.
"I really like that Anzara works with tradition and resourcefulness and it's something that you don't see so much of at the moment."