Putting the fab in fabrication.
Every week, we deliver DROP EVERYTHING – a first-class round-up of the most urgent, sustainable, progressive and forward-thinking releases that need to go straight into your wardrobe.
Deadstock – it sounds a little bit like a meat eater’s ramen broth – but actually refers to material destined for the trash can, surplus to demand and lying around uselessly (‘dead’) in warehouses (‘stock’). The hypebeasts among us will have known about it for a hot second, as it’s often used to describe kicks and garms bought wholesale from a retailer to be sold on for a highly discounted price, once part of a collection but now expired.
With our (hemp) sustainability hat on, though, we’re less excited by ready-made pieces and more what people are doing with the tossed aside fabric, turning rags into riches rather than scraps into cinders. From workshops to studios, bedrooms to factories, deft-handed, style-first folk are buying-up this material cheap and spinning it into something new, rather than producing new material. Why open a new carton of oat milk when one’s already open, you feel?
Linked to this is upcycling – renewing old materials into something completely different via a little imagination and, we imagine, shit tons of sewing. For this week’s DROP EVERYTHING, we’re celebrating this close-knit community of fabricator whizzes, tooting the horn for old, tattered, discarded threads. We’ll get onto it now anyhow – that ramen reference has started really distracting us…
T LABEL
Gloves are going off right now, and we’re talking about the couture, high-fashion ones, not your emo-era fingerless pair (though, much love for them). At the apex of all this is T Label, a luxury ‘romantic wear’ brand that takes inspo from traditional, literary romps and the dramatic silhouettes of fencing garb. Handmade by founder Taylor-Bea Gordon (also known as ‘the glove lady’), all the pieces are made from deadstock, excess fabric, embellished with upcycled adornments. The brand’s new collection ‘The Lunar Waltz’ sees it enter in the world of apparel, with far-out, cosmos-inspired gloves, a penchant for Mondrian and a finishing gloss of sixties glamour.
Drop everything and get…the MOON Dress Electric Blue, twirling reclaimed, see-through tulle into a sheer masterpiece.
ARC’TERYX
Fresh from nabbing upcycling genius Nicole McLaughlin as their design ambassador, outdoor brand Arc’teryx have committed to a new era of sustainable fashion. Inspired by Nicole’s own experience of remixing thrifted Arc’teryx jackets, they’ve just dropped a new ‘ReBird’ collection, transmogrifying textile waste into sturdy gear that’ll render you weather-beating, not weather-beaten. The first drop contains a repurposed windbreaker plus totes and pouches crafted from archive pieces, finished in retro-inspired, blocky colourways.
Drop everything and get…the ReBird pouch, perfect to cram with your phone, mask, keys and (hopefully soon) skiing goggles.
BENJAMIN BENMOYAL
Unless you’re a Dickies-wearing punk who’s right into the DIY scene and skating (we see you), you’ve probably not played a cassette tape for the best part of a decade. Which is why there’s tons lying around, destined for scrap heaps and friable charity shops. Enter Benjamin Benmoyal, an emerging designer making a unique fabric from old videotapes. For simpler pieces, reels of tape are strewn into pockets: more complex compositions see the entire dress made from the material, creating a shimmering, pixelated effect.
Drop everything and get…the Sohel Top, a wrap-around halter neck piece made of VHS (Very Hot Stuff).
ALFIE
Paris-based brand Alfie revives nineties menswear and transforms it into contemporary womenswear, via the help of excess fabric nabbed from luxury French labels. All their pieces are cut, sewn and assembled within a radius of 10km (we’ve travelled further for Facebook Marketplace finds), allowing them to claim a near carbon neutral status. The palette throughout their pieces is gorgeous, seeing mint, turquoise and soft pink colour polo tops, boxer shorts and cargo trousers.
Drop everything and get…the Ivory Boiler Suit: cash me outside in that cashmere.
