Brooklyn based brand, Bergwerk, is setting the tone for a more eco-friendly fashion industry with its environmentally positive approach of scouring the city to find recyclable materials that can be magically transformed into a completely unique garment.

Established in 2013, through the ingenious mind of Gertrude Berg, Bergwerk is the culmination of an ecological metamorphosis. In a simpler phrase, take the old and make it new. Berg grew up in Austria and crossed the pond to study at the School of Fine Arts in Boston where she obtained an arts degree. She took an interest in sculpture, which inspired her original take on shape and the idea of reusing components that are already in existence. New York City is littered, for lack of a better word, with recyclable materials that most people bypass regularly. It’s encouraging to see brands such as Bergwerk take a second glance and envision someone else’s “waste” as something better, something refreshed.

Upon hunting down discarded fabrics from the fashion industry, the formerly hopeless textiles are salvaged and repurposed into a brand new garment. The soul of Bergwerk’s transformation process is behind Berg’s influence of the city and the art of sculpture resulting in avant-garde layering and precise stitch-work. There are no other alterations made to each individual piece besides the stitching, which means there is no extra cutting of the fabric. Just like in centuries past, the practice of utilizing all of something still rings true today in Bergwerk’s designs. Nothing is left to waste.

An awesome aspect of Bergwerk is that every piece is one of a kind. No two are the same, which really allows the wearer to fully express their individuality. Not discriminatory to age, no matter how young or old you are, its garments are appropriate for all. Anyone can take part in helping our planet in a stylish and conscious way by purchasing an original Bergwerk design.

The style focus behind its design process is women’s overall beauty and confidence at the forefront. Nothing is more beautiful than feeling amazing in something that has potential to change habits and generate a new, sustainable direction for the future. Another super cool fact about Bergwerk is all of their garments are hand-wash only! So not only does it rescue scrapped textiles from a trash-hell, it also promotes energy efficiency! Buh-bye, washer and dryer!

Bergwerk is sort of like Cinderella’s fairy godmother to recyclable materials if you really think about it. It takes sad scraps and transforms them from rags to ecofriendly riches. Bergwerk is continuing to pioneer the way for our world to stop dreaming of a better place and in fact start making it a reality, one refurbished piece of fabric at a time. It’s true someone’s trash really is someone else’s treasure.

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Image via Bergwerk

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Easily browse and find ethical, environmentally friendly and handmade textiles for your next interior design or eco fashion project at the Offset Warehouse.

From muslin to linens, velvets to jerseys, flannel to silk, and bamboo to Modal, Offset Warehouse offers one of a premium selection of eco fabrics for designers or hobby crafters that love to use textiles. Alongside providing the materials, Offset Warehouse also provides information on different types of ethical and environmentally friendly ‘eco’ textiles and valid reasons for choosing them over conventional fabrics when creating any type of  eco fashion project.

Founded by former British Royal College of Art student Charlie Ross, Offset Warehouse was born out of the frustration with fruitlessly trying to source ethical fabrics in smaller quantities when working on a graduate collection. Although the online warehouse offers larger quantities to wholesalers, it is specifically geared towards providing materials to independent designers that work on a smaller scale, or people who want to use organic, ethical fabrics in their home sewing projects. Customers can order as little as 1 meter (a little less than 1 yard) of fabric, making it easy to buy just enough for a garment or a small showcase collection.

You can find an array of ethical textile materials for nearly any type of sewing or furnishing fashion project including fabrics, trims, haberdashery and paints at reasonable prices. The Offset Warehouse team has made sure to source only products that benefit the people who make or handle them and the planet.

The filtering search tool makes it easy to find just the types of fabrics you want, and each product description offers information on the fabric’s country of origin and eco credentials. One of our favorite features is the Bargain Basement, which is where you’ll find remnants and end-of-rolls at very low prices. Although based in the UK, samples of any fabric can be sent quickly, and most orders can be prepared for next day delivery.

Sourcing ethical fabrics is crucial for changing the course of the fashion industry to a more positive one. The copious amounts of polluting substances leached into the atmosphere, the resources exploited and the lives ruined by the current system of textile production are abominable. By using the types of textiles Offset Warehouse has sought out, “you can feel good about ensuring a farmer’s or a weaver’s safety and livelihood, or that the environment is being carefully looked after.”

Images: Offset Warehouse

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