This document summarizes 7 fashion brands that are designing out waste: Bethany Williams creates sustainable garments in the UK using recycled materials and supports homeless youth. Ecoalf makes outerwear, swimsuits and accessories from discarded fishing nets, plastic bottles, tires and more. Doodlage in India sources fabrics from leftovers and scraps to prevent waste.

1. 7 fashion brands that are designing out waste
Here are 7 brands from around the world that are tackling waste in
exciting and innovative ways….

2. Bethany Williams
@bethany_williams_london
Bethany Williams believes that social and environmental issues go hand
in hand and through exploring the connection between these issues we
may find innovative design solutions to sustainability.
Each garment is 100% sustainable and made in the UK, even down to
the buttons which are hand crafted in the Lake District. She has
collaborated with TIH Models, a new modelling agency supporting
youth in London affected by homelessness, casting Kris McAllister and
Mustapha, both homeless and unemployed in London, for the
collection Women of Change.
“For my most recent collection ‘Women of Change’ I have worked
alongside San Patrignano in Rimini, Italy – an education and
rehabilitation programme for people with drug and alcohol dependency
that teaches traditional Italian craft and fosters a sense of community.
Together we developed hand-woven textiles from recycled packaging
materials found within the workshop.”

3. @ecoalf
Born of frustration with the excessive use of the world’s natural
resources, and the amount of waste produced by industrialized countries,
spanish brand Ecoalf was founded on the principles of recycling. The
intent to create a truly sustainable fashion brand, started at the source,
and as the result of limited choices in the marketplace of 100% recycled
materials.
“Discarded fishing nets, post-consumer plastic bottles, worn-out tires,
post-industrial cotton, and even used coffee grinds become our
outerwear, swimsuits, sneakers and accessories. In order to ensure 100%
transparency and provide the highest levels of quality, our team manages

4. the full process from waste collection to recycling technologies,
manufacture, design and retail.”

5. Doodlage
@doodlageofficial
Based in India, Doodlage is a perfect sync of sustainability and
innovativeness. They work with eco-friendly fabrics, such as organic
cotton, corn fabric, banana fabric. Another source of fabric is the left
over or quality, discarded textile from large manufacturers, which
account for the “wastage” in export terms. They also source fabrics,
which are left unused by other retailers post-cutting. Much like pieces of
a puzzle, these bits and pieces come together, each with its own story.
“With 40% of garment production being done in India, Bangladesh and
China, these countries alone produce enough waste to be able to create 6
billion garments from just scraps and leftovers. These were some
alarming stats that led us into creating a brand using fabric that would
otherwise go into landfills.”

6. Bundgaard Nielsen
@bundgaardnielsen
Bungaard Nielsen is a crafts laboratory based in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The ‘Circle 1 dress’ pictured above, rebels against standardisation of the
design of clothing, instead offering a more sustainable and size-flexible
form.
“I am currently working on developing a new size-flexible garment
system, which will do away with bad fit and standard sizing, one of the
main reasons people discard clothing. I was once told a story of my
father fixing an airplane engine using only a bottle cap and his creativity

7. while travelling in Africa. This gave me a challenge to make do with
what you are given within a certain framework.”
Suave
@suave_ke
Kenyan brand Suave is all about breathing new life into old, creating
colourful backpacks, satchels and laptop sleeves made from recycled
fabrics and locally sourced African fabrics. They source their material
from off cut fabrics and unwanted leather by working with second hand
traders, factories and tanneries .

8. “We buy unwanted and unsellable clothing from traders at the biggest
second hand market in Kenya. We source waste offcuts from big
factories manufacturing clothes for export, and we also buy rejected,
lower grade leather from local tanneries, materials that have been left
behind by other buyers.”
Zurita
@zuritaofficial
Zurita is an ethical womenswear collection with the craft knowledge and
heritage of Latin American. Working with camelid fibers such as alpaca,
organic pima cotton and silk, silhouettes are loose with geometric cuts

9. and produced in a range of natural colors from gray through brown and
black to white, with blue and yellow.
“Many of my designs are influenced by the geometrical thinking and
creations of the Andean weavers. This ancient pre-Columbian way to
conceive textiles and clothing doesn’t leave any waste. Not only in the
woven pieces but also in the use of fabric, I try to use the whole piece of
textile from design through production.”
These brands were curated by Sass Brown for the Fashion
Revolution fanzine LOVED CLOTHES LAST. Buy your copy here.

10. As an author, educator, researcher and writer, Sass Brown’s area of
expertise is ethical fashion in all its forms from slow design and heritage
craft skills to recycling, reuse and alternative business models.