Week 6: You Choose - Upcycled (pg 119 - 151)

In a few days its Valentines day. A perfect for the theme for the chapter we are digging into this week. To look at our planet with love - and to see all things of waste for the potential for being lovable and useful.

"Imagine nothing useful goes to waste. Upcycling is a cornerstone of our circular economy. Children dream of careers were they get to use their hands fashioning new, better quality items out of old ones" p119

Ronald Van Der Kemp's Atelier is discussed in the book as the high fashion example - The following is an extract from his website that describes what he is about:

"Creating couture out of unwanted materials because we believe that what is deemed useless today can create beautiful tomorrows.
We capture those discarded fragments and turn them into an ever evolving wardrobe.

Fueling a mindful movement
for the sake of beauty
for the sake of our planet "

"We've added to the story, but the original remains in a way' pg120 To see examples of the designs Click on https://www.ronaldvanderkemp.com/wardrobes

Q : The main issue of this form of business model is the difficulty of selling unique pieces online? and the constant push for "new", and our trend culture diving products into obsolescence. Discuss

Q: The dead stock issue 122 & 123. I highly recommend this blog by Good On You it explains how dead stock is used and examples of amazing brands doing it - https://goodonyou.eco/brands-using-leftover-fabric/. Lets discuss this issue and solutions available.

Textile waste is capturing the attention of consumers, businesses and legislators. For example: -

The "Queen of Raw" Stephanie Benedetto: https://www.queenofraw.com/ .
France has extended anti - waste laws, prohibiting the destruction of dead stock.
Australia is implementing the National Clothing Product Stewardship Scheme.
Brands are looking for solutions, and technology is catching up.

Q: Big brands go to extreme lengths to stop their products hitting the grey market. Discuss. Why? The IP issue (knock offs and counterfeit ) p126.

What are ways this can be changed. An example in the book was

Alexander MacQueen donating dead stock fabrics to fashion students.

and TRAID who "stop clothes from being thrown away. We turn clothes waste into funds and resources to reduce the environmental and social impacts of our clothes. It is a circular and sustainable approach to the problems of clothes waste tackling disposal, production and consumption".

Q: WE MUST ADDRESS THE WASTE - "Australia's salvation army(salvos) stores have a 3 million dollar tip fee "for their upcycled charities. How can we look at the waste stream so it is seen as a reuse stream?

We cant go on the way we are going, all we need to do is think about the second hand clothing piling up in Ghana and Chile.

Kirkum challenges us to stop going to charity shops to find perfectly good pieces that can be used. We need to use the throwaway items for upcycling. "Cleaning, cutting it up and making it into something new". This is one of her creations:

Q: Should we all be joining trash clubs? And creating a demand for trash that becomes sorted into treasure?

Q: My favorite quote was the definition of Palimpsest - "An ancient word for an old parchment that's been reused but still bares traces of the original writings.". Its the way we describe and word things that give value don't you think? Rather than trash - its a reusable resource? Discuss.

No meet up this Sunday instead we are taking a field trip on the 16th to visit some awesome local Upcycle businesses in Newcastle.

We are also going to have a few upcycling mending workshops next month on Fridays. Please let us know if you are interested.It will start with an OP shop tour and then a upcycle mending course at the shop from 3-5pm $20 each for 2hrs.

I also want to shout out to:

Purple Card Project and ReNewy . Two local businesses taking on this challenge of waste are reuse of it in our local community. LOVE what you do!

Love,

Yvie xo

Ps. Sorry this is late :/.

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