The upcycling concept is applied in the fashion industry and the result is a delightful blend of style and thought for Mother Earth, writes Syahirah Mokhtazar
AT the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met) Gala this year, Hollywood actress and UN goodwill ambassador Emma Watson posed for the cameras wearing an elegant monochrome outfit.
She wore a fitted bodice with off-shoulder sleeves and paired it with trousers, covered with old Hollywood-style full skirt.
Another actress Margot Robbie walked the red carpet in a revealing white strapless dress with cutouts, flashing her million dollar smile.
Next was actress Lupita Nyong’o, turning heads in her sky high up-do and a shimmery jade sequinned dress, with velvet straps. All three looks were assembled entirely by American designer Calvin Klein.
But that’s not all they have in common. The gowns may pass off as haute couture pieces but they’re all made from recycled materials.
On the night often thought of as the biggest fashion event of the year, Watson, Robbie and Nyong’o walked the red carpet for a cause - to highlight sustainable fashion as part of the Green Carpet Challenge, an initiative started by Livia Firth, environmentalist and founder of Eco Age Ltd. She is also wife of British actor Colin Firth.
The theme for the night was Fashion In Age Of Technology. While others such as model Gigi Hadid and boyfriend Zayn Malik went with a futuristic metallic look, Watson made a statement with her interpretation of the theme - and not just because she wore trousers underneath a skirt.
Her outfit was made from Newlife fabric, a unique yarn engineered from used plastic bottles. The zippers were made from recycled plastics.
While Watson’s attire was crafted entirely out of sustainable materials, Robbie and Nyong’o’s dresses both had sustainable components incorporated into them like zippers made from recycled materials.
A post she wrote on Facebook said: “Plastic is one of the biggest pollutants of the planet. Being able to repurpose this waste and incorporate it into my gown for the Met Gala proves the power that creativity, technology and fashion can have by working together.”
Watson’s gown sheds more light on sustainable fashion. The fashion industry leaves a huge pollution footprint as the process of the clothing life cycle generates environmental hazards.
Next to the oil industry, the global fashion industry is the second largest polluter in the world.
But in recent years, there has been a great push for change. We can see more and more established fashion brands like Adidas and H&M jumping on the eco fashion trend, creating awareness to the mass market.
Local brands are taking the lead as well, catching up with the West.
CONSCIOUS TREND
Fashion and sustainability may lie on opposite ends of the spectrum but fashion houses, celebrities and designers have shown how both can converge.
It’s a conscious act to ensure garments are ethically produced, taking steps to ensure they meet the environmental-friendly criteria. It’s fashion with sustainability in mind and we see a wave of this upcycling trend taking over the fashion industry.
There is a thin line between upcycling and recycling. Recycling means to turn waste into a reusable product or to refurbish a product for reuse, for example, reusing newspaper as wrapping paper.
Upcycling is reusing recycled materials and turning it into a better quality product.
In upcycling for example, a plastic bottle is transformed to create a high quality product - there’s a compounding value to it. Just like Watson’s gown for the Met Gala.
The key here is to create something out of used materials, especially non-biodegradable ones. If you produce something using less water, energy and carbon monoxide, it is part of green technology.
Another example of fashion designers taking the leap towards green fashion is Monique Collignon, a fashion designer from Amsterdam.
At her pop-up store in Starhill Gallery, she shares with me her take on sustainable fashion and the upcycling concept she uses for her latest collection.
Collignon was in town for the Starhill Gallery Fashion Week, where she revealed a ready-to wear-conscious collection called Monique Collignon Couture Light 2016 - The Conscious Collection.
She has previously dressed celebrities like Giuliana Rancic and Carly Steel. She is known to create designs that encapsulate the needs of modern women, but this collection is said to go beyond that.
It empowers women to become a part of the plastic problem solution.
For her Conscious Collection, Collignon worked with Monique Maissan, founder and chief executive officer of Waste2Wear.
It is a sustainable and socially responsible company providing green solutions for the textile industry by recycling plastic bottles into high quality fabrics and products. The unique process involves turning environmentally damaging waste into sustainable polyester yarns.
The recycled yarns are then combined with natural fibres to be woven or knitted into 100 per cent eco-friendly fabrics, suitable for garments, home textiles and accessories.
Collignon and Maissan work hand in hand to produce a great line of fashionable and sustainable clothes in the collection.
The fashion designer says 70 per cent of the collection is made from Waste2Wear fabrics produced from recycled plastic bottles. Other fabrics like silk and lace are also eco-friendly and are produced ethically.
Every design shown on the runway exudes elegance and flaunts feminine cuts. Dresses and skirts were aplenty and its fabric falls and drapes beautifully, making it hard to believe it was made from plastic bottles.
Collignon says Maissan is very much into saving the planet. “It’s very inspiring. As a designer I need to design but I also want to be work conscious. I don’t only think about money. Business will come.”
LEAP TOWARDS CHANGE
Sitting with Collignon during our interview is Nik Suzila Nik Hassan, director of Kloth Lifestyle, a joint venture between Kloth Malaysia and Greentech Malaysia Alliances.
The partnership is aimed at developing, marketing and promoting certified environmentally friendly products to the nation. Kloth Lifestyle is involved with both Collignon and Maisson for the Couture Light collection, as they are the exclusive partner for Waste2Wear for Malaysia.
Nik Suzila is wearing a dress from Collignon’s collection. It’s simple, black and trendy. “This dress is made from 22 recycled plastic bottles,” she tells me proudly. Every piece from the collection comes with a tag, showing how many bottles have been used to fabricate the dress.
Where does Malaysia stand in terms of awareness on such endeavours? Fortunately, the act of upcycling is gaining traction here. For example, local brand Ultra is an eco-fashion start up, combining fashion and sustainable innovation.
But although eco fashion has made its appearance, there’s still a long way to go for the mass market to fully appreciate and understand the upcycling concept.
“Our job is to create more awareness and change the mindset and habits of the people. I think information about the product is a way to educate the public,” says Nik Suzila.
Along with her partners, she also came out with an eco-friendly hijab line called the Green Hijab. But promoting sustainable fashion through a brand like Monique Collignon in a country like Malaysia has its challenges as it only caters to a certain market.
Nik Suzila says for the mass market, the brand activation strategy is different.
“There must be a product that the target market can understand and appreciate. If I were to address Monique Collignon to the mass market, she wouldn’t be relevant. If I were to address the rest about sustainable fashion, my strategy would take on another road, like educating them on how rubber can be made into something else.” Also, the price for sustainable clothing isn’t always friendly on the pocket,” she says.
“As a designer, it’s very important that I try to help change the world. It starts with yourself. People need to see why we need change,” says Collignon.
Brands that have taken on the upcycling concept in their collections
H&M
Its Conscious Collection 2016 offers a range of dresses, accessories, and jackets made from recycled polyester and plastic bottles.
Adidas
Adidas created eco-friendly concept trainers using waste plastic filtered out of the oceans and a 3D printed midsole created from recycled fish nets.
Ultra
A local start-up which aims to marry high fashion and sustainable innovation.