Perform a quick web search for “upcycled t-shirts” and you’ll find websites with DIY tutorials on turning t-shirts into, well, let’s face it–a ripped-up version of the same t-shirt. There’s a lot of cutting and slashing, but not a lot of true garment construction. Angela Johnson’s website is the notable exception–she takes her tees seriously. She’s been transforming your neglected Wu Tang Clan and “Save the Whales” crew necks into beautifully constructed couture ball gowns for the past decade.

That’s right. Ball gowns.

Photographer: Nicole Clemetson, Wardrobe Stylist: Shannon Campbell, Make up: Lorri Mitchell, Hair: Luis Solis, Model: Jade Pruitt

Johnson admits that the idea for giving vintage tees the Cinderella treatment happened quite by accident. She transplanted herself out of her mass-produced clothing line in LA and landed in an Arizona school teaching fashion classes. The ball gown was an evolution of a lesson she taught on repurposing and recycling objects into garments. “When I found that I had created something that was eco-friendly, unique, comfortable, washable, versatile and fun, the entrepreneur in me immediately decided to act on the idea and start another clothing company.”

Using 25 or more shirts to create one finished gown, Johnson sees each shirt as a piece of fabric, not as an existing garment. She has the uncanny ability to manipulate a stretchy knit fabric into shapes and structures for which it was never engineered, incorporating highly tailored shaping details such as darts and boning. Sure, she could easily source knits in an endless rainbow of colors from any fabric wholesaler in the country, but the end result would have no meaning, no story and no power. There is beauty in the transformation from utilitarian tee to girlie confection; a resourceful frivolity.

“The thing that works with my collection is that everyone wears T-shirts. I offer a way to hold onto that sentimental shirt and wear it again in a different, more modern, way”, says Johnson. So you already burned your slimy ex-boyfriend’s super awesome Sublime/Sugar Ray/Smashmouth Summer Tour 1998 rags? Oh, and your mom sold your “My Parents Went To The Bahamas And All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt” t-shirt at last year’s yard sale? Have no fear! She’s happy to pull source material for your future cocktail frock from her current stash of vintage goodness.

Photo: Larry Stone, Hair: Annie Cavanagh of E’s Urban Hair, Makeup: Nahoko Yasumura, Model: Lulu Kaiali

Angela Johnson has dressed every conceivable member of a wedding party (including the grandmother of one bride!), made corsets every month for a year with someone’s favorite band tees, fashioned prom dresses galore and has even had a gentleman or two commission blazers. “Once I got a collection of super hard core heavy metal band shirts that this girl wanted me to use to make her wedding dress…those bizarre orders are my favorite ones. One of the most inspiring batch of shirts I got was from a breast cancer survivor who had run countless breast cancer marathons. I made her a ball gown (which takes 25+ shirts) and a snuggie (which took about 40 shirts) and she still had shirts left over!”

Awards season is nigh and we’ll be inundated with celebrity “Best & Worst Dressed” lists for the next few months–which celebrity would Angela Johnson like to see donning one of her creations this year? “I love a girl with a lot of tattoos and vintage style. I would love to have someone like Kelly Osborn wear it…for the MTV Awards or something fun like that. I would love for her to wear my T-shirt Ruffle Dress…styled in sort of a pin-up girl style with pin curls and shiny vinyl pumps and red lips.”

Team Sarandon/Robbins made positive waves at the 2003 Oscars by rolling up in a Prius, countless starlets have been spotted in vintage Valentino, but upcycled t-shirts couture just might be the ultimate vehicle for waving a green flag on the red carpet!

Main photo credit: Cassandra Tomei, courtesy Angela Johnson

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Fashion labels, like From Somewhere, are upcycling discarded textile materials to turn waste into beautiful, unique garments. 

Upcycling is defined as the act of turning waste materials into a desirable and usable quality objects. This method of manufacturing is right in line with the cradle-to-cradle philosophy, and engages the consumer in an understanding of how their responsible purchase has kept the landfill from growing a little bigger. In the world of fashion, garment designers are realizing the wealth of opportunities in the realm of upcycling and are doing a fine job of proving that style definitely doesn’t have to be sacrificed for the sake of sustainability.

Fashion has become a commodity in modern times, as fast fashion makes the latest runway trends available to almost anyone with a wallet within days of collection show on the catwalks. But with so much fashion constantly produced and consumed, huge waste piles of perfectly usable textiles are forming in landfills, alongside all the other negative effects of an exploitative and far too rapid fashion process. As a response to this destructive behavior, the designers and labels featured below are turning trash into treasures by utilizing waste from car interiors, discarded fabric rolls, used clothing, upholstery materials, and even swimsuits. Their philosophies for waste-reducing fashion processes are inspirational, and offer their supporters the benefits of local production and a fantastically colorful and unique wardrobe.

Piece x Piece

Defining itself as a “thoughtful disruption to the traditional path one usually takes in the apparel industry from fabric mill to land fill”, Piece x Piece creates one-of-a-kind garments from luxury fabric swatches. Their mission is to create beauty from waste, hopefully inspiring reconsideration of our relationship to waste. With a collection of beautiful and elegant, but slightly quirky patchwork style garments, Piece x Piece aims to provide seasonless, timeless clothes that allow us to “progress toward new philosophy about what waste really means and how we address it.”

Goodone

Fashion-forward, sexy, block colors and body hugging silhouettes all define the collection of London based fashion label Goodone. The independent and eco-conscious label is “reinventing the potential of what upcycled garments can be” by utilizing reclaimed fabrics in almost all parts of the design process. The end result is a highly coveted collection of defined, feminine garments that are suitable for almost any occasion. With the mission of achieving positive change from within by visually blending with the mainstream fashion industry, Goodone ultimately aims “to give women the opportunity to feel good about their clothes and work with what already exists to achieve more.”

Platinum Dirt

Platinum Dirt is designer Dustin Page’s creative response to discarded leather materials generated by the automobile industry. He sources material from cars such as Mercedes-Benz, Cadillac, Lincoln, BMW and Volvo to re-fashion it into quality leather gear. Platinum Dirt’s handcrafted VIN jackets incorporate the vehicle identification number (VIN) plate from the resource providing car, as well as hood ornaments and zipper pulls made from car logo emblems. The likes of luxurious silk brocade are used for lining and pockets, adding a polished touch to each of these, sleek and structured, one-of-a-kind jackets.

Looptworks

Based in Portland, OR, Looptworks is a consciously minded business that repurposes pre-consumer waste to create limited edition accessories and garments. “From concept to your closet, we can assure you that no new materials were used to create our clothing and that each item is as individual as the person who wears it,” says co-founder Gary Peck. Because the label depends on excess material from other manufacturers for the production of their items, Looptworks only makes up to 500 of any given style, hand-numbering each one to signify its uniqueness. Looptworks is putting forth a new manufacturing method for the fashion industry by cutting down on emissions, production costs, design time and resource use when compared to traditional fashion production. As Peck asserts, “we hope people start to think about what they buy, where it came from, and what natural resources it required to produce it.”

From Somewhere

From Somewhere is one of the first fashion labels that turned upcycling into a real trend, and has been addressing the balance between consumption and disposal since 1997. Run by Orsola de Castro and Filippo Ricci, the label reuses luxury, designer textile waste to make gorgeous clothes that have been featured in upper-scale departments stores, the red carpet and several books on sustainable fashion. The label has even collaborated with Speedo, turning discarded swimsuits into amazing evening gowns and dresses, like the Unity Dress designed to sponsor Speedo’s athletes at the 2012 London Olympics. From Somewhere collections are a vibrant mix of colorful production off-cuts, damaged fabrics and end-of rolls that have been turned into exquisite, high quality garments. Make sure to stay posted for the new collection due out in April!

Images: From Somewhere, Gregoire Vandebussche, Goodone, Platinum Dirt, Looptworks

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