Besides being trendy, rework fashion is also a good action toward the betterment of the environment.
The rise of rework fashion and why it’s trendy
Rework fashion is a whole concept of mix & match. The main idea is to re-adopt, redesign, and resew old clothes to create something modern with a vintage twist.
Mixing and matching to create wholly original styles and with it came the patchworking concept – where we put together different and various fabrics pieces. It could be jeans, denim, cotton… Anything you want to throw in the bean, you put it together to make an amazing piece of art. Let’s get inspired by Japanese fashion lovers who excel in the art of reworking, mixing high-end and fast fashion, new and, in particular, vintage.
Let’s jump back to the Tokyo Fashion Week where fashion designers highlighted the perspective of using vintage material to create something brand new and fashionable. Furthermore, the big designer, Nobuyuki Matsui decided to create a carpet made of used old jeans in line with his denim staples collection for his spring 2020 collection.
The “remake culture” term is born from the concept of constructing new pieces with cutting-edge shapes and designs that have a unique aesthetic. “I choose vintage clothes just as fashion designers choose fabrics,” tells Kawamura – YEAH RIGHT! manager – to Teen Vogue. “I think this method should be natural, but it takes a little more time.” Their concept is to rework sporty pieces in a blur fashion aesthetics.
Rework fashion helps the environment
Nowadays, more and more companies take care of the ethics behind the process of clothing making. Fast fashion uses third-world countries where labor and materials are cheap and this industry generates 100 billion garments each year and is the most polluted after petrol. Fast fashion clothes pollute the water, as they die in chemical products to gain this super flashy color. The polyester used in fabrics is also threatening animals. The main challenge is to recycle the biggest part of the clothing that people don’t want anymore. Hopefully, the Gen Z generation is going to change the balance.
They have different habits of consumption, 40% of Gen Z have boycotted brands for not meeting ethical expectations, whilst a further 49% said they would consider it for the future according to a survey. 62% to wish for better information on the conditions of production of the clothes we wear Fashion is the most polluting industry, just after oil.
By reworking, no additional chemicals are added nor will it cause an increasing polyester demand. And good thing for the creative ones, you can turn your old clothes into something completely new and trendy, and you’ll create less demand by recycling.
That’s how the concept of slow fashion emerged.
Slow fashion is a concept opposed to fast fashion which is part of the soft movement that advocates manufacturing that respects the environment, animals, and people working on the production line.
You may ask yourself, but how can I dress in a way that respects the environment and human beings? What are the gestures and attitudes to adopt? So, let’s turn into an eco-friendly mode and see what we can do to fight fast fashion. We should avoid compulsive purchases and when we buy, think about a more long-term purchase. We should therefore buy basic clothing that goes well with anything – as we should keep them for more than a couple of years. We should prefer to buy in vintage stores or buy from emerging designers – who have more an environment-friendly perspective -, and take care of the labels on your clothes. In the laundry, you will raise the foot and go to 30° C. Greenpeace also made a “Detox Podium” that classified manufacturing brands in three different categories: the “Leaders that have taken concrete steps and set credible deadlines to limit the use of toxics; the “Greenwashers” that have not translated their promises into concrete actions; and lastly the “Losers” who have not yet made any commitment
Brands that do reworking
There are so many companies now that dedicated their work to rework vintage or old clothes, but we put here some of them that are super-trendy.
https://frankiecollective.com/collections/all-clothing
https://www.a-l-c-h.com/collections
https://anotherlovevintage.com/collections/alv-drop-5
Some patchworking/reworking DIY ideas
Firstly, if you have old jeans, what about doing patchwork jeans that is fashionable? Or even a new trend that’s coming right from the United States, do some stacked jeans.
Or, you can even turn old jeans into a brand new handbag!
To conclude, reworking and patchworking is and will even be an increasing trend in the future. It’s super dope and you can transform anything you have into a new item: a bag, a bob, a little top… So let’s get started and let your creativity take over!