O'Rourke said she was surprised and "very, very excited" to get an email from the event's designer manager asking if she was interested in participating.

"They're a fashion week that actively seeks to showcase emerging designers and they want to show designers from all countries so they really try to get international designers on board," she said. "It can be a really multicultural event."

The Label, which was founded last year, focuses on garments designed and constructed using minimal waste techniques.

O'Rourke, who has never been to Canada, will send down the runway a collection of 12 to 14 full looks.

"I'm hoping to use some really interesting fabrics, like these polyester fibres that are used from recycled fish nets that they get from the ocean," she said.

"I'm really hoping to just keep with my quite minimal theme and sort of challenge the audience's perception of what ethical clothing looks like because I think a lot of people have a very bad idea of what it looks like."

O'Rourke said she's particularly excited to fly the fashion flag for the nation's capital.

"Canberra isn't really often very represented when people go overseas so I'm kind of excited to be like, 'we're a small town but we've got talent there, we've got so many creative people'."