Upcycling - the sustainable trend taking the fashion industry by storm

If an item is too damaged or stained to be resold, we’ll upcycle it. We are already working with designers like E.L.V. Denim and Ahluwalia, and the fresh students of the Central Saint Martins BA Fashion course. They’ve been turning the good bits of old clothes into brand new creations.

If you love to see creative designers doing this thing, then watch this space, because we’ve got even more exciting projects in the pipeline!

WHAT IS UPCYCLING?

You might be thinking, okay, I’ve heard the word but I don’t actually know what it means.

Don’t worry! There’s a lot of terminology in sustainability and recycling, and we don’t want you to get bogged down with trying to figure out your upcycling from your downcycling from your recycling.

You know us, we’re here to make the complicated simple, so you can talk about it and take part in it without wondering if what you’re doing is actually making a difference or not.

Upcycling is the process of taking something old or unwanted, and transforming it into something new and usable. Unlike recycling, which involves breaking something down completely to use again, upcycling keeps the original item’s form in some respects.

So instead of being shredded to its original fibres and re-woven into new cloth, upcycled clothes will be cut up and re-sewn into something new.

The cool thing about upcycling is that it invites creative use of the old item’s details. For example, a jeans pocket could be cut off and used on a jacket, or an embroidered cushion could be turned into a beautiful evening top.

When we upcycle, we give a new narrative to something old and worn, and give it a totally fresh start in the world.

Upcycling can use post-consumer waste, or pre-consumer waste, or even a combination. That means the offcuts from the factories that make our clothes, or the clothes we’ve worn to death and don’t want any more.

Either way, they’d oftentimes be destined for landfill, and upcycling would save them from that fate.

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN UPCYCLING AND DOWNCYCLING?

Although both upcycling and downcycling reclaim and reuse the same materials to make new products, the term “downcycling” usually refers to materials that are too damaged to be upcycled or circularly used. So a pair of jeans with a rip in the knee could be upcycled, but a pair of jeans that are falling apart at every seam would probably end up being downcycled.

Side note - Downcycling is a term we don’t actually love to use here at Reskinned, because it implies that something will have a lower value or usage afterwards. That can often not be the case - for example our shredded Sweaty Betty gym leggings turn into punch bag fillings that are used daily for years and years - far outliving most pairs of gym leggings!

WHY IS UPCYCLING SUSTAINABLE?

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the average person throws away around 30 kg of clothes every single year. And as you probably know, even though a lot of that can be worn again or recycled, there are some things that are past their best, and end up in landfill.

When something is upcycled, it also keeps the waste in circulation and out of landfill. It gives the fabrics a second life, in a more creative way.

By utilising pre-existing materials, upcycling also reduces the demand for new resources. This then lessens the strain on the environment - less textiles, dyes and raw materials are needed.

Energy and water usage are reduced too, so greenhouse gas emissions are lessened.

And because upcycling often takes a certain amount of creativity, it actually often ends up meaning the product is worth more than it originally was, and will be kept and treasured for longer, because of its uniqueness.

So ask us again why we love upcycling?!

RESKINNED AND UPCYCLING

A lot of textiles come through our doors here at Reskinned HQ. Some of them are in amazing condition, and could be worn again and again and still look basically new.

And other things… well let’s just say they’ve seen better days. We have a 0-to-landfill policy at Reskinned, and our upcycling collaborations are one of the more creative ways we do that.

Clothes that are no longer in suitable condition to resell can often be upcycled into incredible creative designs (we just need a little bit of that magic designer-touch!)

OUR COLLABORATIONS

We love to collaborate with the creatives who see the potential in the pieces that can’t be reworn in their current state. Here are some of our favourite designer upcycling collaborations over the past few years that have put their creative spin on waste textiles.

E.L.V DENIM

We’ve been partners with E.L.V. Denim since pretty much the beginning of Reskinned, and we even have a takeback scheme for them. So if you have any old jeans (any brand, not just E.L.V. Denim) then send them our way for a discount on their upcycled styles.

E.L.V. Denim take old, discarded denim and transform them into sophisticated, elegant cut-and-sew jeans. They even do made-to-measure designs, so you are guaranteed that perfect fit.

E.L.V. DENIM stands for East London Vintage Denim. Any guesses why? Everything they produce is designed and manufactured in East London of course! Plus their denim comes from our unwanted, post-consumer waste denim in our warehouse (also in East London).

By using post-consumer waste, they’re helping to protect the environment for future generations.

It takes 10,000 litres of water to make a new pair of jeans – this is the same amount of water that one person drinks in 13 years.

E.L.V. DENIM only uses 7 litres of water for their designs - to wash the jeans before they upcycle them.

AHLUWALIA

Priya Ahluwalia’s eponymous brand has become a name that’s associated with sustainable design, because it’s so embedded in everything they do. Whilst their practice is heavily sustainability focused, they don't like to be called a “sustainable brand”. In the words of Priya, "We just try to work with materials that are pre-existing, dead stock or vintage, and just try and create really interesting design details and quirks. Sustainability just naturally happened."⁠

We’ve collaborated with the brand to give them a huge amount of clothes and textiles to use in their collection. These clothes and fabrics would have otherwise had to be recycled.

Instead of using new fabrics, the brand got creative with what we gave them, and made some incredible, innovative designs.

Find out more about Ahluwalia in their interview with GQ and view the lookbook.

CENTRAL SAINT MARTINS BA FASHION DESIGN

There’s something so exciting about seeing what the freshest minds in fashion design can come up with, so partnering with Central Saint Martins - a.k.a. One of the best and most famous fashion design universities in the world - was a total no-brainer for us.

We let students from the fashion design BA course come to our warehouse and rummage through our fabric bins to find inspiration and ideas. They each went home with bags of old clothes, ready to turn them into something incredible. And that they did.

We were amazed to see the creative transformation - from stained and worn out garments to incredible couture designs. Socks were transformed into jumpers, denim scraps into fully-formed trousers - you name it, they created it. Plus a million things we couldn’t even begin to name.

We were honoured to be part of the critique panel and live out our fashion critic dreams, alongside Glass Onion Vintage and Phoebe English.

FANCY UPCYCLING YOUR OWN WARDROBE?

If you’ve got the creative itch, then upcycling is a fun way to experiment with your own wardrobe, and breathe a little bit of extra life into old clothes you no longer fancy wearing. Take inspiration from the amazing designers we’ve collaborated with, or browse YouTube and Pinterest for inspiring (and simple) tutorials to upcycle at home.

And don’t be afraid to take your ideas to a local seamstress or tailor either - just because you might not have the sewing skills, doesn’t mean you can’t upcycle! Add a frill or ruffle, change a dress to a top, if you can imagine it, a seamstress can probably bring it to life.

WANT TO COLLABORATE WITH US?

If you’re a brand, big or small, who makes new products out of deadstock clothes and materials (or fancies experimenting with a more sustainable design approach), contact us at hello@reskinned.clothing to discuss how we can support your project.

Upcycling isn’t just a fashion trend. It’s an important part of the redesigning of the fashion industry as a whole. This is an industry full of creative people and creative ideas. And let’s face it, the waste we’re experiencing is a serious problem. By taking the creative brains of creative designers, we can save valuable fabrics from going to landfill. Not to mention bringing exciting new designs into the world.

So next time you’re looking for something new, how about choosing something upcycled for a truly unique design?

Check out our takeback partners here and your old stuff could end up being transformed into the latest runway design. And of course, there’s a voucher in there for you too, no matter what condition your clothes are in.