| lass="article_content"> | | | | nation, or set of nations, pile money and resources into |
| What is recycled fashion? There’s been | | | | buying throwaway stuff they never use for more than |
| something of a buzz happening amongst those in the | | | | a couple of years. The recycled clothes, jewellery and |
| know, recently, as the fashion retail world turns itself | | | | household wares starting to take over high street style |
| away from the old high street brand imitations of haute | | | | are a reaction to both of these things. |
| couture and finds itself in a brand new alleyway | | | | Recycled fashion tends to be sourced from ethical |
| — where words like ethical and | | | | places — workers co operatives and work |
| recycled jostle for attention. All very hip and on | | | | houses for people who have been injured or disabled. |
| trend, assuredly — but does anybody actually | | | | And it also answers the dilemma the west has been |
| know what it all means? | | | | trying to ignore for so long — how to stem the |
| One company does. On the Saffron Winds site, the | | | | flow of waste belched out by consumer markets on |
| recycled trendy stuff is about as genuine as you can | | | | an annual basis, without disrupting the flow of cash that |
| get — necklaces and bracelets made from | | | | is so vital to the continued existence of the economy. |
| recycled posters, where each bead is created by | | | | By making fashion items out of the things we throw |
| making elongated tubes of poster paper and hardening | | | | away, and sourcing them from poor workers who are |
| them with resin; home wares made from recycled rice | | | | being given a better deal, the west is able to salve its |
| and flour sacks; glass ware made from re-used beer | | | | conscience in two very sore spots indeed. |
| bottles. All of this fashion, for home and body alike, is | | | | There’s another hook for recycled fashion to |
| shipped in from artisan charities in Southeast Asia | | | | hang its hat on: because every item is made from |
| — where workers who would otherwise be | | | | things that have been something else before hand, no |
| making clothes and household items for major | | | | two items are the same. Each piece of recycled |
| companies paying pitiful wages are given a fair price | | | | jewellery, clothing and house ware is completely |
| to turn yesterday’s rubbish into today’s | | | | unique. That satisfies an urge that the fashion industry |
| high fashion. | | | | has been fostering in us all for years. The whole point |
| Recycled fashion is the final stage in a movement for | | | | of fashion, according to the powers that be, is that it |
| change that has been bubbling under the western | | | | people want to be unique — they want a style |
| consumer market for some time now. People have | | | | all their own. But they also want to have what |
| been increasingly educated about the ways in which | | | | everyone else has. With recycled fashion, they can do |
| big businesses treat their overseas employees | | | | both. |
| — and, also, the ways in which westerners as a | | | | |