OLD bits of wire, corks and ring pulls don't sound like items which would give an outfit catwalk status, but would-be fashion designers in Batley have been learning how to make 'recycled' fashion.

Bits and bobs at the back of the drawer often get thrown in the bin and then sit rotting in landfill sites adding to greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

But green fashion designers at Batley School of Art and Design have found a way to give them a new lease of life.

When more than 80 students from schools and further education institutions attended the school's Cambridge Street campus to take part in a fashion taster day, they were introduced to the pressures facing the fashion industry to become more ethically and ecologically aware.

As part of the event, the prospective fashion degree students were asked to work in small groups to produce unique designs from household materials for a t-shirt.

They were also introduced to the work of ethical designers including Katherine Hamnett and recycled couture designer Gary Harvey.

Curriculum manager for fashion Sam Hudson said: "In the fashion industry at the moment, there is a huge interest in ethical fashion and ecologically-sound practices and many of the seminars I have attended this year have focused on that.

"This is something we need to be more aware of as consumers but certainly, fashion students coming through as designers have to bring back into the industry this awareness of ethical initiatives and what we should be doing to turn things around.

"This is not just about sticking anything onto a t-shirt. It's about creativity, being inspired, being clever and even trying to get a message across by using the t-shirt as a blank canvas and we are looking forward to working with potential new students to see what they can achieve."

Now staff in the fashion department are calling on local people not to throw away small household objects, but donate them to the college to help the students create their 'green' t-shirts.

Suitable items include ring pulls from tins and cans, plastic or metal bottle tops, newspaper and waste paper, textiles, corks, toilet and kitchen roll inners, envelopes, stationery and DIY items including nuts, bolts, washers, fuse wire and electric cable.