What is Upcycled Clothing?

Upcycled clothing is the green, environmentally and socially conscious side to the fashion industry which is sweeping the youth generation of today. Humans are now cluing in as to the negative effects of mass production, which include mass resource extraction, fabrication, distribution, and eventually, disposal. This system is one which is not sustainable and creates mass amounts of waste in energy and products. The negative effects of factory-made, mass-produced, or sweatshop made clothing include the need for it to be made long distances away, the lack of sustainability and temptation to always buy more, and the ignorance that occurs when we buy a product and have no idea where, or how, it is made.

Upcycling is an epiphany that is occuring all over the globe where we are realizing that if we use our creativity, we can redesign, rework, and recreate items of clothing that would have otherwise been junk. We are creating something beautiful from materials that would otherwise be thrown away, using bits and pieces that are already here and so that no new material needs to be fabricated. It could also be called "wearable art" because each piece is so unique that it is one of a kind and can never be re-created. We know where our clothing is coming from, we are creating unique styles from materials that were previously simply waiting to be thrown into the landfill.

Watch the story of stuff, a short film which explains mass production and the history of humans and consumerism.

The Story Of Stuff from Alternative Truth on Vimeo.