Upcycled Fashion; What of it?

Hey Guys

I have wanted to write about upcycled fashion for a while now and have been debating the best way which to go about writing it. I know that the content of this blog can be a bit soft and fluffy (haha just like a donut), but I want to try and write about something slightly more serious and interesting than what I up too and what I like about that f****ing amazing top I have on.  I have collage to thank for my newfound interest in upcycled fashion. As a part of school I have opted to do a project on this topic; researching it and eventually producing a collection of recycled clothes of my own. (Tell me if you would like to see my outcome)

 When you start talking about anything to do with upcycled (or recycled) fashion, a few facts seem essential to know. To me one of the most important (the most cray) things is the 1.4 tonnes of textiles waste that goes to landfill this figure includes about 80 per cent of the 900,000 million items of clothing that we discard yearly. (I know WFT) Both these figures are only for the UK. This is driven to our access to cheap throwaway fashion, which has become the norm in our culture.  Although most of us are victims of this consumer lead culture (my parents loving nickname for me has become the consumer), this is not going to change soon and what we is the real issue is how we deal with our clothes after they become “so last season”.  Although in the UK we do donate 250 000 tons of clothing to charity each year (only ¼ of which gets sold in the UK), little of our clothing waste goes into up cycling. So I know the stereotype of upcycled fashion is not a positive one, well at least it never was in my mind and I am sure that many of you have the same preconceptions about it as me! “Like I so would not be caught dead in that stuff” is a phrase that seems to come to mind. Haha this is not the case, upcycled fashion can be amazing. Take TopShops collab with re-claimed to wear, these pieces were beautifully designed using beautiful prints left over from previous seasons. I love this collection even more because most of it is floral aka I am a kid in a candy shop.

When I think of upcycled fashion now, I can't help but think of how my opinions have changed. Once I thought of it of ugly, eco-warrior gear which I would never be caught dead in as it was so not my style. Now my opinion is quite the opposite, I am interested in the world of upcycled fashion, the problems it faces (I know that this is not something I have talked about greatly here but getting enough of anything to create a collection is quite difficult), the image of the clothes themselves and also what I might acquire. It is important (well to me it is) to know where things end up in the world and trying to do the best we can with them. I am not saying that I am not going to EVER wear anything again that has not been upcycled; however I am going to think a bit about my clothes have come from; but there is no way that I could stop shopping at topshop, urban ect. I have a problem I know!

I hope you enjoyed reading this
XXX

Sasha 

(Click on the image to go to see more from da places they are from)