Welcome to my project shop!
In short, my project is about creating clothes and accessories from recycled materials. For my work, I use not only used clothes, curtains, tablecloths, bedspreads, sheets, but also look for fabrics and accessories in thrift stores. My principle is to avoid buying new things as long as possible. It’s not a question of money. No. Sewing from new fabric and using fresh-shiny accessories is very pleasant. However, I had an experience in my life that changed my attitude to consumption.
A few years ago, I had the opportunity to work in thrift or second hand stores. The work was not difficult, but hard. I sorted things that people handed over to the store for recycling. They brought them mostly in large plastic bags that they give out in grocery stores. The bags were left on a cart in the shopping area. When the carts were full, they were rolled into the stuff room, where I and several other elf-workers sorted them. And this process was endless! As soon as the cart with bags was empty, a new one was brought in. I am still impressed by this. My city is quite small, only 70 thousand people. And everyone, every day, during working hours, brought bags of unnecessary things to the store. When we came to work in the morning, a mountain of bags with items was waiting at the door. What did people give away? Absolutely everything that you can imagine. And even things that I did not know existed. Clothes, furniture, accessories, equipment, books. I remember a collection of hundreds of salt shakers. There was a suitcase, as if filled with things of an elegant lady of past centuries – stockings, perfume, a corset, an album covered in ornate handwriting. All arriving things had to be sorted in a simple way – broken / old / dirty straight into the trash. New and good quality – distributed among departments (clothes, decor, furniture, books, dishes, equipment). If something seemed especially valuable or expensive, then a special employee looked for information about this product on the Internet. Now let’s go back a few sentences, about clothes – anything that was even a little dirty or torn was immediately sent to the trash. Probably, people who hand over worn-out dirty things to a second hand store think that a miracle will happen to them? That the things will be washed, ironed, darned, the pellets will be removed, and then a needy child will buy them and be happy and grateful? No. An employee in a face mask and rough gloves will take these worn-out pants and, without thinking, throw them away. Perhaps this will cause indignation – but what about recycling? What about the environment? Secondary consumption? Yes, personally, I could find at least three ways to use these torn pants. But in a store where TONS of rags are handed in every day, there is simply no time to do this. And there is no place to store all this! During my work, it was Easter season and we brought out baskets, chickens and other Easter decor with eggs and grass to the sales area. I asked the manager where they put the goods from previous holidays. Want to know the answer? They throw them away! All these bunnies and New Year’s deer mostly go to the incineration plant. Because every year for each holiday people buy new decorations and hand over the old ones to the second hand store. There is simply no space in the storage facility to store all the things handed in after all the holidays for many years. A cute snowman candlestick handed in by someone seven years ago will not wait for you to buy it in 2026. The situation with the number of things being handed in plunged me into chthonic horror. I looked at millions of vases, toys, notebooks, music records, sneakers and other things that surround us. In fact, I love different trinkets, but it is easy to love when there are a few, but when there are a million? And how many of them are in other thrift stores? I wanted to become a total minimalist. To live in emptiness and sleep on a mattress. While working in a second hand shop, I was inoculated against overconsumption.
Among other things, the thrift store receive craft supplies. Often they were in perfect condition, the packaging had not even been opened. Embroidery kits, needles and buttons, fasteners, rolls of fabric, barely started balls of woolen thread. If you have ever paid attention to the prices of such materials, you know that this is not a cheap hobby. A meter of fabric in a store can cost 35 euros, and the thift store gave away 5 euros per bag. When I saw the craft supplies being handed in, I felt hurt and offended for them. Yarn should be a scarf or a sweater, not lying in a dark closet until moths destroy it. Ear wires had already begun to rust, but they never became earrings. And if I could resist buying clothes and dishes, I could not remain indifferent to fabrics.
I started buying fabric and threads from thrift stores from time to time. I call these materials recycled, but in fact they are absolutely new, just not bought directly from a fabric store, but from a thrift store, where they ended up after a long journey. So, for my project, I use recycled materials. In this case, the sequence of work is different, as if I were buying new material for an invented product. The size and quantity of fabric from a thrift store is limited, and there is no way to buy the same. I have a large closet where the materials are sorted by category: depending on the pattern, density, quantity. Sometimes I see a piece, and immediately understand that it is enough for a shirt, or two similar materials, but different in color suggest that i can sew a contrasting jacket. There are no more such pieces, and there is no more fabric for a second shirt. Therefore, my products are unique and one-of-a-kind, no matter how pompous it may sound. I also save fabric scraps, making patchwork jackets out of them. This way I keep a memory of all the items I have created.
At first, I sewed only for myself. As I noticed, there are two types of people. The first, having decided to make something, immediately goes to the store or to the online store and buys everything they need. The second type – to which I belong – first takes a good look around and thinks about what and how it can be replaced. My favorite thing is even to look into the trash can. For one dress, instead of tape, I used laces from old boots. When I did not have the same buttons, I simply covered different buttons with fabric and used them for a blouse. For me, this is not a question of saving money! It is more of a game, a quest, a puzzle. Gradually, my wardrobe began to consist almost entirely of clothes and accessories that I created myself. Yes, sometimes I combine stripes with checks, Turkish cucumbers with polka dots, brown with turquoise. But each thing is treasure to me, comfortable and lifts my spirits. As if only I know the secret that my jacket is made from an umbrella and my dress from a bed sheet.
Finally, I want to say that I am not a crazy zerowaste activist, not an environmentalist. I sort garbage and carry a shopper with me, nothing more. I also make spontaneous purchases, and sometimes – oh god, I can even order a whole bag of things from a cheap online store. I am not ashamed to admit it. I am only human, and fast fashion affects me in the same way. The other day I was in one of the popular offline stores of fast youth fashion. I sometimes like to wander around such stores in search of inspiration. I look at how the seams are processed, how the cuffs and collars are decorated. The same clothes hung soullessly in hundreds of rows, some lay crumpled right on the floor. Most of the prices did not exceed 10 euros. And I was again overcome by a wave of depression. How can you respect a T-shirt if it costs cents and is not valued even in the store. How much did the material, production, logistics for delivery cost? The labor of the person who hangs and packs this T-shirt? How much does all this cost if the price of the thing is 3 euros? Let’s say I want to walk around in a new coat every fall. And I can afford it. Fast fashion stores provide such an opportunity, to choose from dozens of models and colors. So every year I have one coat more, and maybe even two. Demand creates supply … I decided not to support this race and refuse to shop in fast fashion stores, I do not like to have anything to do with it. However, I understand that my choice does not matter much.
While I was experimenting with sewing, studying different styles, materials, there were too many clothes I sewed. How am I any better than a standard overconsumer? I spend most of my time at home and don’t have the opportunity to wear 10 different jackets. It reminded me of the horror I experienced in a thrift store from the abundance of unnecessary things. I felt ready to share my creativity with the world. Through my hobby, I want to find like-minded people, and I will be glad if my products bring joy not only to me.
This is what my project is about – making comfortable clothes and accessories from abandoned recycled items. About slow fashion and the value and respect for work. About attention to detail and creativity.