Seeing the recent rise in popularity of sustainably produced fashion and zero-waste ideology, many new labels across the world have come up with ideas to use reclaimed and reused textiles in their apparel designs.
One such designer label is the UK-based eco-fashion clothier ‘From Somewhere’ which specializes in combining sustainable thinking with fashion-forward designs and bringing quality and craftsmanship to exquisite rubbish. The brand works primarily with pre-consumer surplus from the manufacturing houses and textile mills of the luxury fashion industry.
Apart from working with surplus materials, the label also runs an organization called Reclaim To Wear which aims to identify and pre-design surplus before it becomes waste. The association uses fashion industry’s surplus such as stock, remnants and off-cuts to create new upcycled products.
Reclaim To Wear has partnered with many leading retailers including the British high-street purveyor Topshop to design capsule collections made entirely from discarded materials. Made using the retailer’s stock of jersey, cotton and denim wastes, the range, which was launched in June, 2014, included a tiered blouse in mixed fabrics, a striped and colour block paneled maxi dress, a grey marl sweater with un-matched sleeves and a pair of boy shorts.
The concept of using upcycling in the fashion design sector was also highlighted at a Scottish textile symposium organized by Zero Waste Scotland and the Scottish Textile and Leather Association. Attended by delegates from across the clothing, fashion, textile manufacturing and design sectors, the conference saw many upcycling industry specialists speaking on the benefits of using waste as a resource to re-create fashion and to educate the young talents about the immense creative potential of fabric wastes. (PB)
