Remember that shirt you got from Urban Outfitters a year ago, or that skirt that dwells somewhere in the back of your closet, which might live somewhere in your subconscious, and you remember it every couple of months?
Upcycling clothing can help transform those items you’ve forgotten about and avoid wearing into something new that you want to reach for when getting dressed.
There are many benefits to upcycling. It can help the planet, your wallet and all that mental space that your unworn clothes are taking up. The real question is, how can you start?
The reality is that the hardest part is starting. Even if you don’t know anything about creating clothing, from the design process or sewing, you can just start and learn as you go. The first thing you can do to start is to pick out an article of clothing you don’t wear anymore and look up how the item can be upcycled on Pinterest, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok etc., and see how other people upcycled it.
For example, if you are trying to upcycle a striped button-down, you can go on social media and search upcycling striped button-down and try to find a tutorial that you like. This can really be helpful if you’re an absolute beginner to upcycling.
It can help to get your creativity flowing, and eventually, you can start to come up with your own ideas on how to reimagine your clothes. This will also help you to develop the technical skills needed to make your own clothes, and that you would want to use to upcycle your clothing.
It can really help to get inspiration from creators on social media and use that to make the clothes you have into something you want. If this is your first time getting into upcycling and your algorithm is not overflowing with upcycling or designing content, then here are some creators who can help you start. Lucille Pearl is a YouTuber who creates a variety of content centered around fashion DIYs. She makes lots of sewing upcycling content as well as crochet tutorials.
Another creator is Katie Nicole Goddess. She creates lots of fashion and sewing content, mostly using repurposed fabric.
The Essentials Club is another good channel to follow for clothing content. She does lots of thrift flips, which can be helpful if you have a specific article of clothing you want to upcycle, and she does lots of sewing tutorials that reuse materials.
Another way to upcycle your clothing if you don’t want to do DIYs is to recycle it. There is a California-based company called Suay that will take care of any unwanted textile waste and use 100% of your recycled clothing or other textiles for new garments. All you have to do is ship your clothing to them, and they will do the rest. It costs $20 to recycle a 20-pound bag of clothing, and you receive $20 back in store credit.
This is because you are paying to recycle your clothing, not donating them. They have lots of other opportunities to upcycle, like their monthly community dye baths. This is where you can ship articles of clothing that you like the fit of but don’t wear because of the color. They will dye it for you and send it back to you. Every month, they have different color options to choose from. This is an amazing alternative if you don’t like to craft or don’t have time to, but still want to participate in upcycling.
The best way to start upcycling is to start, whether you do this by making your own clothes or recycling them. Don’t worry about perfection.