Written by Nol
The New Luxury
What do we think of when we think of luxury? Google defines the word luxury as ‘the state of great comfort and extravagant living’, but what does it actually mean – more particularly in relation to the fashion world? Nol wrote on the term in his 2015 Nol Pov blog post ‘The Untapped Power of Luxury’, but how have ideas surrounding ‘luxury’ changed in the past seven years? In this blog, The Nol Team has researched and interviewed on the fashion world at large, more particularly on the sustainable practice of ‘up-cycling’, noting how it has taken the designer fashion world by storm.
While environmentally conscious and ethical clothing has become more popular than ever, the push for sustainability in the fashion world is not a new one. Back in 2018, Burberry, Chanel, and Versace all announced that they were banning the use of fur in their textiles. Additionally, more and more consumers are being made aware of just how many garments they don’t wear, and even more that are carelessly thrown away and brought to landfills. Thrifting and up-cycling have come back in style as some of the best ways to spice up your wardrobe while not falling victim to the non-ethically produced fast fashion industry. This call for sustainable and climate-conscious fashion has only increased in the wake of the pandemic. With less demand in the designer fashion industry, there was more than enough unsold clothes left in stock. Up-cycling has come into the picture for designers as a sustainable and creative way to imagine luxury fashion unlike any other fashion trend to date.
@Thatsnotabag on Depop
Up-cycling offers the opportunity to be innovative and experimental with new designs, with every piece of fabric and clothing being unique in its own way. With every piece incorporated having an energy and story of their own attached to it, consumers and designers are reminded of the power and value that clothing has while repurposing it. Up-cycling has an eliteness and exclusivity of its own; no piece will ever be the same, leaving room only for uniqueness and the true essence of being ‘one-of-a-kind’. Up-cycling has been one of the best ways to revitalize the exclusivity that designer fashion has long labored to maintain. In a world where iconic designer brands define the fashion world with signatures of their own — up-cycling has paved a new way to pay tribute and to be environmentally conscious. Not only that, but up-cycling’s environmentally positive impact makes gazes toward a future focused on art and sustainability brighter and more certain than ever.
AQUA TEXTILES
Dani
To learn more about up-cycling and the textile industry as a whole, we spoke to Dani – the founder and artistic genius behind the sustainable up-cycling and artistic medium that is AQUA. Dani and Nol first met when they studied abroad in Paris back in 2006, and the Nol Team was inspired by Dani’s experience with up-cycling and garment production and sought to interview her. AQUA is self-described as ‘a queer aesthetic, a dream space, a meditation on movement, interdependence, change, and memory through textile, paper, ink, and plants’. By speaking with Dani, we have learned so much from her curated expertise and passion for sustainable and ethical textile production.
AQUA’s Upstream collection shows the vibrant result of bleach dyeing with small details like crocheted flowers on many of the t-shirts. Each garment has a unique feel as all the flowers featured are local to the New York area – the land of the Lenape people. Dani describes Upstream to be used as ‘a sacred, tactile processing of distance, connection, patience, and gratitude’ grounded on her own journey from New York to LA, where she remembers the place that she called home for most of her life before seeking a new sanctuary more than 3,000 miles west. The Nol Team was inspired by Dani’s honoring of her past roots and optimism in her courage to Find [Her] Sanctuary.
“a queer aesthetic, a dream space, a meditation on movement, interdependence, change, and memory through textile, paper, ink, and plants”
The Tutaj collection, on the other hand, has a more pastel feel to where these particular textiles ‘begin to ask what it means to be here’. The clothes in the Tutaj collection are dyed using avocado pits, onion skins, and carrot tops, where wearers are invited to feel deeply and freshly into the now and the nature that exists in that now – whatever and wherever that means for the wearer. Botanical dyes alongside the clothing’s upcycled nature evoke feelings of natural energy and remind consumers that the power of luxury lies beyond the runway, and might just be hidden in the roots of our past – both good and bad. Wearing these pieces on our backs as we walk into a new future ignites an inner power beyond comprehension.
Dani first learned how to upcycle from her grandmother, who emigrated from Poland to Canada. The act of up-cycling for her is rooted in its practical nature that helped serve her grandmother, though it has taken a new form in AQUA as artistic expression and a tribute to the environment..
What Dani has found most enriching about her up-cycling journey has been her education on ‘who am I learning from and who am I honoring when doing this work’ and ‘humbling and locating myself as one small person in a large context’. This ‘rebranding of up-cycling’ has transformed a practice that was once done out of necessity into an artform that has taken the fashion industry by storm. Dani is excited by this transformation of up-cycling, as more and more people are ‘recognizing the importance of restoring things and keeping things and giving them a new life and not disposing of them’.
Greg Lauren
Greg Lauren – a Nol favorite – is another prime example of the luxury in up-cycling. Selling pre-owned jeans and scrap-based designs, Greg Lauren takes a step forward in what he calls ‘Deconstructing Americana’. His ‘GL Scraps’ collection takes up-cycling to a whole new level. Some of the textiles are made from the scraps of an army tent – with pieces such as a studio shirt, an artist jacket, a tent ‘brando’, even a tent scrapwork lounge pant. The clothing tags on each of these pieces read ‘As a part of our ‘no scrap goes unused’ initiative, this product was made using the cutting wastage accumulated from previously cut garments and accessories’.
What remains intriguing, however, is the pricing. A pair of coral cargo pants on the Greg Lauren website racks up to $1,500. This begs the question: what is the significance of creating an expensive market for sustainable fashion? On the one hand, it encourages designers to take part in sustainable practices and may even set a new standard for designer fashion overall. However, there is something to be said about making sustainable fashion accessible to people of all kinds and financial backgrounds. One of the biggest setbacks for sustainable fashion taking the center stage in the fashion industry is the consistent high pricing. Many individuals across the country and even the world turn to fast fashion brands like Shein and Romwe because they are cheap, though their production is both immoral and damaging to the environment.
“The luxury of sustainability is defined by being able to afford something that takes a lot more time to make”
We asked Dani what she thought about the pricing of sustainably sourced clothing, and she brought to light the important factors when it comes to ethical and sustainable production of textiles. ‘It’s more expensive because people are being paid a fair wage, and things are being done more sustainably, more ethically, and it takes more time’, Dani pointed out. Up-cycling’s introduction into the elite fashion world may have more positive effects than it might first seem. ‘In some ways it's cool if designers are bringing it to this luxury level because it catches the eye of people who are not as into it yet’, Dani notes, ‘as more accessible brands emerge people might be attracted to that because they see it as something aspirational because it’s in the luxury realm’. The designer fashion world has long been known to have a trickle down effect when it comes to fashion trends worldwide. If up-cycling’s popularity in designer collections encourages people from all levels of society to engage in this sustainable practice or at the very least invest in marketed upcycled garments, then maybe a $1,500 pair of cargo pants isn’t all that bad.
@fuwarishop on Depop
With Dani, we were also able to explore what luxury means in relation to up-cycling and sustainable textile production. ‘The luxury of sustainability’, as Dani puts it, is defined by ‘being able to afford something that takes a lot more time to make’. Time is the essence when it comes to up-cycling, where we are invited to treat our goods, no matter what they are, ‘as if they were luxury items’. Up-cycling has also shifted the way we view our heirlooms, as Dani notes that ‘Up-cycling can be the luxury of not having to let something go’. When we give both items and clothes the care and importance that they deserve, the crux of value is heightened – redefining what it means to buy, wear, and sell garments.
Up-cycling’s growing popularity in the fashion industry has given us an insight into what luxury really means and how that phrase has changed over time. It’s not simply about having enough money to buy the pieces in question – it's about recognizing the value, story, and uniqueness of each piece designed thanks to up-cycling practices. Thanks to its presence in luxury and designer fashion, we may soon live in a world where up-cycling truly is the new luxury.
May you be well,
The Nol Team
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