These Russian designers breathe new life into old things: 7 upcycling brands to consider

In recent years, the fashion world has been increasingly immersed in environmental thinking, and many brands are increasingly sticking to the principle of “overproduce”. Vivienne Westwood is, of course, at the forefront of the industry’s main eco-activists – she even ran a campaign for the fall-winter 2019 season in which she encouraged people to buy less clothes. Now famous colleagues in the store are actively catching up with this trend, and young and attentive designers are trying to fill old things with new meaning.

This experimental direction is called upconversion. Do not confuse with recycling! The main difference between the two driving philosophies is that recycling recycles materials (for example, the soles of sneakers are made of plastic) and upcycling is deconstruction in its purest form (an old product is broken down into something else). completely new).

Not only foreign designers work in this direction. There are a lot of talented guys floating around in the Russian market, flea markets, and second-hand shops who breathe new life into things. We’ve brought together seven of our favorite local brands whose work is making the fashion industry at least a little more eco-friendly.

pajamas

An upcycling brand where vintage jackets get a second life. It is this slogan displayed on the home page of the Pijmak website, a brand created by Ksenia Yarema and Olga Nemushkova in 2019. It all started with the Harris Tweed jacket that Ksenia found at the flea market. Then the idea arose to transform the old into something completely new. Now the Pijmak collection includes more than a dozen upcycle masterpieces. In addition to washed jackets, in the assortment you can find jeans with tops. And if you have a jacket in your closet that you don’t want, you can order an upcycling service and the design team will turn it into something unrecognizable.

hurricane floor

If the redesigned jackets don’t surprise you, St. Petersburg brand Hurricane Sole certainly can. The founders of the brand started with a casual workshop format, but over time they evolved into something more. They can easily reconstruct any pair and add the craziest details to it. Thus, Converse, Vans and New Balance appear with their boot soles on their social media accounts. By the way, anyone can order a pair of such hybrids – bring two pairs to the workshop and get one, but unique.

Kruzhok

Kruzhok is not just a magazine, radio, creative association and brand, it is also an upcycling lab (in which real magic happens). Designers rethink shapes, play with textures, and fantasize about cuts. The result is something unique and inimitable. You can follow the guys on the banned social network Instagram* (considered an extremist organization in the Russian Federation) or follow the news on the site.

Roxyntasy

Roxyntasy is the underwear brand of photographer and designer Oksana Babenko. She makes all the sets from vintage fabrics found at flea markets or secondhand shops. Therefore, each collection is limited and restock is not available. So every item is worth its weight in gold.

‘Rishi

‘Rishi has a sustainable policy and St. It is a brand that is the fruit of the work of designers from St. Petersburg. The main values ​​of the brand are unique and fashion-free design and, of course, comfort. Besides the basic collection, the site has a section full of things that have been given new life thanks to the ‘Rishi team’. The upcycle line is based on denim products created using the patchwork method (which captured the hearts of all fashion bloggers last year). There are jeans, skirts, dresses and even corset tops. Meanwhile, ‘Rishi also accepts things for recycling. Get them on the brand’s St. Petersburg and get a discount on your purchase.

dog rose

Dog Rose is a young Moscow brand of Bogdan Vysotsky and Lisa Melnikova. The guys create shirts, dresses and even jackets from different vintage pieces. By the way, among the main fans of the brand are Yulia Gavrina and another half of the secular Moscow. This is evidenced by the fact that new collections disperse within a few days.

SMELL

Another Moscow brand founded in 2017 by Nikita Kalmykov, whose main philosophy is to renew old fabrics and accessories. The brand’s collection includes trench coats, shirts, trousers and bomber jackets. And I must say, these are not just clothes, but real artifacts worth investing in.