WATCH: Athlone woman tells US news channel about Junk Kouture
Junk Kouture outfits by Irish students have made a splash in the United States, where they were modelled on a TV news report and during a half-time show at an NBA basketball game this month!
Over the last 11 years, Junk Kouture has encouraged Irish students to create eye-catching fashion from discarded items. It's now expanding to other countries, and this month was given an Ocean Hero Award at the Footprint Sustainability Summit in Phoenix, Arizona.
The award caught the attention of a local TV crew from Fox News in Arizona, and its reporter Danielle Miller broadcast a report on the Irish students' creations.
Athlone woman and former Our Lady's Bower student Katie Brill works in PR and Communications with Junk Kouture and she was its spokesperson in the local news report, which you can watch here:
The report featured three impressive outfits including 'Memory Lane', which was made out of old camera film by Emma Beatty and Katie Murphy O'Connor from the Sacred Heart School in Tullamore.
There was further excitement when nine Junk Kouture designs then took part in the half-time show of the NBA game between the Phoenix Suns and the Milwaukee Bucks in Phoenix on Friday last, February 11.
Designs modelled at the game included Attire, an outfit made from bicycle tubing by Moate Community School students Michelle Corcoran and Elvira Browne. 'Fight the Flame', made from fire hoses by Sacred Heart, Tullamore, students Roisin Dunne, Kate Healy and Áine Lynch also came under the spotlight at the basketball game.
"We were delighted to win our first global award, the Ocean Hero award at the Footprint Sustainability Summit in Phoenix, Arizona," said Katie Brill.
"It was so exciting to bring Irish designs over to America to showcase the great talent involved in Junk Kouture – which were then seen by Fox 10 viewers in Phoenix and everyone in attendance at the summit too!"
Closer to home, registration for the 2022 competition in Ireland has closed and students are now putting the finishing touches to their designs as they wait to hear if they qualify for the regional finals of the Irish competition taking place in the coming weeks.