Thursday 14 September 2017

The Beauty of Recycling


''Clothes are the 2nd largest source of pollution, after oil...''

Did you know that? Well it is not surprising considering that a pair of jeans with a t-shirt (which you very likely might be wearing right now) costs about 12.500 liters of water to produce, and that is just the water no transport and electricity in the equation yet a lot of resources to say the least, and unfortunately a lot of it goes to waste as things are thrown away once out of fashion.

A great solution? Buy 2nd hand, buy less, repair, give to someone who needs it. There is so much 2nd hand clothing that still 85% end up in landfills, which is just ridiculous.


We have always been extremely resourceful in re-using, repairing and recycling fabrics and clothing's for our own items and for those we sell.
Both our clothing and bag shop are 95% made out of vintage fabrics, recycled clothing etc, it is just very satisfying to give old things new life and to avoid things going to landfills.
But with each thing we make we always end up with small pieces of fabrics, these cuts end up in these 4 huge baskets. These baskets have been here for  more than 10 years and we constantly use fabric of them. We've made dozens of bags with patchworks out of these small pieces. Also inner pockets for the bags are chosen from here. But it never gets less as new pieces are also added all the time.

So in an attempt to get these baskets a little emptier Mum knitted fabric strips into this awesome bag. Just cutting the strips was already a lot of work but the result is gorgeous.



I hand stitched straps to them and added the lining, but the knitted part is of course the true labor of love part.


We love how it turned out, and even though a lot of fabric was used the basket doesn't seem emptier at all lol :)


So I came with the bright idea to make an ottoman with this knitted fabric, I will cut the fabrics and knot them to each other this time around. As it was my idea I will have to suffer some consequences too but this might actually make some difference in the stash of rags :)

9 comments:

  1. I wonder how long your work on such a bag lasts?

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    1. Not sure if I understood your question, are you wondering how long it takes to make this bag?

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    2. It took about a week to knit, hours every day.

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  2. Thank you for talking about this issue and also for making recycling such a big part of your art and artisan work. I find your stance uplifting and inspiring!
    And that bag is gorgeous!
    I know you can also make rugs with strips of recycled fabric.

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  3. This bag is amazing, you did a great work. More people should know what is behind fast fashion. Your bag is a demonstration that it's possible upcycling and recycling materials and have a beautiful accessory that has nothing less that a new one.

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  4. I didn't know it is the second source of pollution but I could imagine. It is a great idea recycling fabrics. Check out Orsola de Castro!!

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  5. Gorgeous Work! I love that bag!

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  6. Awesome bag! Love how your mum knitted the colors so beautifully in place! And I thought I had a big bag off fabric stripps ... Looking forward to see more work like this! (the rugs I read :-) )

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