Upcycling is a concept that I, before this week, had never really thought or heard of. When deciding what type of product to come up with that is upcycled, I began to brainstorm about my everyday life and my family's life. Over the past weekend, when I visited my nieces, they ravaged through my suitcase and played dress up with my clothes. Although they are only 4 and 7 years of age, and the garments swallowed them up, they still loved trying on everything I had in my bag. They always compliment me on the way I dress and make comments on how they wish they could wear clothing like mine. So, this week I came up with the idea of turning my old clothes, that I know longer wish to wear, into miniature clothing.
After reading Waste = Food, I learned the difference between a biological metabolism and a technical metabolism. They both inspired me to think of a products lifecycle differently and inspired me to brainstorm about how my lifestyle affects both of these concepts. Technical metabolism consists of a technical nutrient, which I believe is any material that can be turned into another material that is worth the same amount of value or more. By watching the video, Rhoner Textiles, I realized that clothing really is a service and is not really just about the tangible garment itself. The items continuously circulate into several life cycles, serving a greater purpose to people and their community.
With my idea, adult clothing can be worn until the owner no longer wishes to wear the garment ever again, then one or several garments can be cut and sewn into any desired style of children's clothing. Many random garments could be used in making a dress or use simply one t-shirt to make one or a couple pairs of shorts, depending on what size of clothing the child wears. Using this concept, less clothing would be wasted in making children's clothing that the young users wear out so quickly. Parents and other adults would have any easy way to dispose of their old clothing by either selling their garments to parents to use to make their child's clothing or using the old pieces to make new pieces for their own kids. Garment manufacturers would become involved with the new idea by having customers send in their old and unwanted clothing to their desired manufacturing company and trade or get a discount on their new clothing they order. The manufacturing company would then either make the old clothes into new children's garments, or sell and trade with other children's manufacturing clothing companies. Less time and money would be spent purchasing clothing that kids outgrow so quickly and more time to focus on family life for the individuals who re make the garments, and more time for manufacturers to focus on sustainability.
Hi, Larissa;
ReplyDeleteI see your creative juices are flowing! This is a really interesting idea. And, I do appreciate the revival of home sewing and family time around making things as part of your concept. The children's category really needs help, as a lot of waste is generated, and this is a viable solution. My question to you is, what happens when the child is done with their second-time-around garment? How will the C2C cycle be kept continuous?
Have a great weekend!
Dr. Armstrong,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your input! My idea to keep the C2C cycle continuing is when the garment is totally unwearable anymore, the scraps could perhaps be used for rags, made into doll clothing or possibly made into a quilt.
Larissa,
ReplyDeleteGet idea!!! I feel like this concept could really thrive in the apparel industry. I really like that you thought about sending back the used cloths to it's originally manufacture and having them convert them into children's clothing. However, I personally keep my cloths for a very long time, do you think there should be a time limit for when they can send their cloths back to the manufacture to convert them into children's clothing? I like your responds to Dr. Armstrong's post. However, children are a little more rough with their clothing, do you think that the scraps will be able to be usable or do you think that they will be able to break them down and make them into new fibers?
Great blog this week! I like the idea of actually converting clothing into smaller garments. Normally you just see parents saving clothing till the child can fit hero them. Do you think the manufacturing companies should have regulations on where their scraps go? And how do you think manufacuring companies will react to this type of upcycling?
ReplyDeleteLarissa,
ReplyDeleteThis is a very creative and different idea. I think that a lot of people can relate to this. You obviously put a lot of thought into this, but I was wondering how willing manufacturers would be to reusing products to create new products. Do you think that this will create a problem, or that manufacturers will be on board because it might save costs?
Olivia,
ReplyDeleteA lot of people do not keep their clothes more than a few years, this would be ideal for people who constantly get new clothing. Kids do wear clothes out, however they also grow very fast, causing clothing to only be worn for a few seasons.
Lindsey and Kelsey,
I think manufacturers who are sustainable will be on board with this idea because it will save them money and also create a form of free advertising by also showing people how sustainable they are. No, I do not think that companies should have regulations on where there scraps go, it should be a free for all, and consumers should receive a discount on future purchases when sending their clothing in.
Do you think more people would be willing to return their cloths if they are name brand names? Honestly there are sometimes I want to get rid of my cloths but I have a couple of pieces that I spent a little to much money on and it's hard for me to get rid of. Do you think most people tend to think this way? And do you think this would affect your concept? I know you said this concept would be more towards people that tend to constantly get new cloths but I just wanted to run this thought by you.
ReplyDeleteLarissa,
ReplyDeleteThis really took my back to being a kid, my cousin is one of those girls that shops a lot and then decides very quickly that she does not like what she bought anymore. She is 5 years older than me and when I was a kid she would give me several trash bags of clothes a year of stuff she did not want anymore. I usually had to wait a couple of years to fit into it, but one of my favorite things as a kid was to go through her bags and pick out what I liked. How could you modify this concept for kids who get hand me downs of stuff that is to big for them?
Olivia,
ReplyDeleteI honestly don't think brand names would make any difference in the matter. If someone does not want their clothes anymore, they just don't. Sending back their garments that are name brand may be worth more of a discount.
Laura,
These clothing items that are too large go exactly with what my main focus was, turning adult clothing into children's clothing by cutting and sewing to modify for a better fit.
Hey Larissa,
ReplyDeleteI love love your blog this week!! I just can't help but feel a tug on my heart, not only is this a sustainable act but it's also a "caring and sharing" act of kindness. Families or any household, can preserve the planet by simply passing down the clothes they no longer wear, to be created into new fashionable pieces to be sold and worn again. Since not every piece of clothing could be duplicated due to the restricted amount of a particular garment available, I wonder if retailers would want to charge a higher price for the exclusivity of the remade pieces.