Upcycling refers to creative reuse. It is the process of transforming by-products, waste materials or products that we no longer use into new materials that we can classify as having a higher quality, artistic value or environmental value.

There are fashion brands that have already created collections based on this concept and used an environmentally friendly strategy. To do so, they use materials such as plastics or clothes that have been discarded by consumers or that have gone out of fashion. Sustainability in any company is fundamental, not only for marketing purposes but also to maintain high standards of corporate social responsibility.

Origin of upcycling in haute couture

In the garment industry, haute couture fashion has also exponentially developed its immersion in this concept of recycled garments. We must go back to the nineties of the twentieth century to find one of the pioneers of this way of creating. We are referring to Martin Margiela, Belgian designer and founder of the French fashion house Maison Margiela. It was he who applied upcycling at that time by linking old and used clothes with modern ideas.

There are also examples such as those shown by haute couture brands like Vetements, the French designer Marine Serre, the Japanese Sacai or Viktor&Rolf, who develop part of their collections with this concept in mind.

Artistic creation has found in upcycling fashion a new space to develop brilliant ideas that we already see on catwalks and enjoy in shop windows and on the streets of thousands of cities around the world.

Thanks to this sustainable practice, designers and high fashion brands create stunning pieces of clothing by giving a new life to fabrics that would otherwise have been thrown away. This reduces the negative impact on the planet earth that would be made if it were created from scratch.