Grampians Central West Waste and Resource Recovery Group is hosting a series of online events next week that will raise awareness of the environmental cost of fast fashion.

Guest speakers, including leaders in the ethical fashion industry in Ballarat, will provide inspiration to reuse, re-style and repair to expand your wardrobe without creating waste.

The online event series follows a popular Ethical Fashion Festival in Ballarat last year that featured in person educational workshops and an upcycled fashion show.

Andrea Hurley, owner of Ballarat retail Hattie and the Wolf, will launch the online festival on Monday from her store.

Ms Hurley said she had a passion for slow and ethical fashion and this was the foundation of her store that stocked handmade local products, upcycled and pre-loved clothing and eco-friendly items.

"Events like this help to educate people about why we need to carefully consider our clothing purchases and the impact that fast fashion is having on not only our environment but also the people who are making the clothes," she said.

"Those who choose to shop for ethical fashion are helping to limit the amount of textile waste as well as providing the factory workers with above award wages and in most cases education for their families."

Professional op shopper and sustainable fashion stylist Bianca Flint partnered with Ms Hurley to create pre-loved boutique Hattie's Wardrobe Green.

She will present a free online workshop sharing her op shopping tips on Wednesday.

Ms Flint shared two of her tips with The Courier, including to take time to shop the entire store to avoid missing pre-loved treasures and to get to know the staff and talk to them about what you are looking for.

"Op shopping is a good thing for a few reasons, one being the environmental impact in making use of resources we already have, but also it is a more cost effective way to find something you need," she said.

"It can be a really fun thing to do as well. I encourage people to visit often and once you find that one treasure you will be hooked and want to go back for more."

Bethany Jakob of Bethany Alice Fashion Design will run a workshop on Thursday sharing advice on how to make the most of your sewing machine.

She will remind participants how to thread the machine, share her 'go to stitches' and then teach three alterations using those techniques.

Ms Jakob said having basic sewing skills could make a big difference to enjoying your wardrobe.

"It can be hard to find things that fit or you love straight off the rack, so alterations are a really good way to make a garment perfect for you," she said.

"We all have so many clothes sitting in our wardrobe, why not try to turn it into something we are going to want to wear again and again instead of buying new stuff.

"I think a lot of people think it is hard to transition to a sustainable lifestyle and a sustainable wardrobe but you can do it yourself, it is not that hard and have a bit of fun with it."

Other workshops throughout the week will explore mending and upcycling.

RELATED COVERAGE: Ballarat Ethical Fashion Festival provides inspiration to reduce fashion waste

Grampians Central West Waste and Resource Recovery Group is also running a fashion competition encouraging people to transform waste agricultural plastic into items of clothing or accessories.

The material is currently not re-used and ends up in landfill, so Industry Officer Stuart Horner hopes the competition can encourage a broad range of industries to think about a possible use.

"The ultimate aim is to get people thinking about how they might create something that is a scalable and a commercially viable reuse of the plastic," he said.

"If a concreter could see a way to use the used plastic to line the foundation trenches for concrete, that would be an example of the broader things we are hoping to inspire by raising the profile of this material."

Visit recyclingrevolution.com.au/ethicalfashion/ for details of the competition or to sign up for one of the free workshops.