T hough you may have just heard of it, upcycling has been fueling our evolution since the beginning of time. Upcycling textiles has recently experienced a rise in popularity due to the on-going Revolution of the Fashion Industry in an attempt to protect our planet from the consciousness of Fast Fashion.

What does Upcycling mean?

Upcycling means transforming an item into something more beautiful and desirable for the future. Textile Recycling is the process of recovering old fabrics and clothing that can be reused, while Textile Upcycling uses innovative designs to create new products of higher quality and value than the original. Benefits of upcycling include:

1. Less Pollution: Upcycling uses materials that have already been produced, reducing the need to manufacture new ones which releases harmful gases into the atmosphere.
2. Less Waste: Upcycling prevents perfectly good clothing and fabrics from ending up in landfills or incinerators.
3. More Natural Resources: The production of new clothing requires a lot of natural resources. Upcycling prevents the planet’s resources from being depleted, renewing the quality of our water, land, and air supplies.
4. More Beauty: Upcycling is an artform, recapturing the magic of fabrics to create something more unique and beautiful than before.

Upcycling Clothing

Upcycling Clothing is a long term solution for Fast Fashion Waste, which produces over $500 billion worth of clothing that goes unused every year (most of which is incinerated or sent to the landfill).  Upcycling clothes extends their lifecycle and creates less garbage. When we upcycle old clothes into more current styles, it increases the number of times they are worn which eliminates textile waste from ending up in landfills. For every ton of discarded textiles used again, 20 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) is prevented from entering the atmosphere. CO2 emissions contribute to climate change and global warming, which pose the most serious threat to our planet. When it comes to sustainability in fashion, using upcycling to lower emissions is the most proactive way to protect the environment and life as we know it.

Upcycling Fabrics

Before there were dresses, there were fabrics. Many of these original fabrics never get sold, and fade ever so slowly out of existence…or so we used to believe. DivaBitch Couture, like other forward thinking brands, are recapturing the magic of these fabrics through innovative designs. By upcycling unique fabrics into one of a kind dresses, vintage fabrics that can be transformed into modern dresses. 

Through upcycling, recycled fabrics are cascaded into couture gowns. The world we live in is ever-evolving, and the future of a sustainable fashion industry depends on this timeless artform.

Upcycling the Future

Upcycle design is a viable tool to be used in our transcendence to a Circular Fashion Economy.  Upcycling enables us to produce infinitely more beauty, creating inspiring new styles from things that have already been made. By using existing materials, upcycling gives our planet the opportunity to renew its natural resources and enrich our ecosystems with a variety of life.

The key to true sustainability is intelligent design; crafting the future we wish to create. This is a never-ending creative process, and one that if done on a grand enough scale, will lead us to renewable abundance.

Upcycling is the culmination of resources, craftsmanship, and creativity. As a collective humanity, we already possess the knowledge and resources to balance the beauty of nature with the beauty of ourselves. If we utilize our intuitions to support the evolution of life, we’ll live in a masterpiece beyond imagination.