From op shop to catwalk | Rotorua News | Local News in Rotorua

Op shop pieces will be transformed into catwalk creations as part of a competition with over $6000 in prizes.

Rotorua Community Hospice Trust and Waiariki Institute of Technology have established the competition in which contestants buy a garment from any Bay of Plenty Hospice shop and alter it into a runway design.

The trust's funding and development manager Jan Morgan said Bay of Plenty Hospice relied on fundraising and their hospice shops for funding.

"The competition was a fun way to encourage people into their shops," she said.

Prizes include a year's tuition fees at Waiariki, a sewing machine and Footloose prizes.

First year Waiariki Diploma of Fashion Technology Student Michael Grant said he planned to enter the competition and was altering a 1970s brown trench coat.

"I think it's a pretty cool competition and it would be awesome to have my second year fees paid," he said.

"I don't really have time at the moment with all my course work but the prizes are very motivating," he said.

Classmate Judy delaCroix had three garments she had been working on - a dress turned upside down into a vest, a skirt now a cape and another skirt now a feathered dress.

The pieces will be shown at the Waiariki Diploma of Fashion Technology Students annual fashion show.

Waiariki Institute of Technology and Rotorua Community Hospice Trust hoped to make the competition an annual event.