Noki´s House of Sustainability

Jonathan JJ Hudson, designer of Noki - House of Sustainability (ikoN spelled backwards... I love moddest designers). He’s an underground recycler/refashionista/redesigner or a “ragger”. His brand of customization is a statement against mass produced branded clothing. By re-working a second hand garment, he creates a one-off piece of clothing, a work of art even. As one fashion writer put it: “the message behind the House of Sustainability is corporate rage, urban tribalism and quite a bit of fun camp.”.

At its most obvious, Noki custom mounts a challenge, a symbolic critique or even a form of resistance, against mainstream, mass-market, homogenous and depersonalised commodity fashion. Where sportswear relies on brands and powerful logos to make its selling proposition, Noki abducts these signs, reconfigures them, uses, abuses and reuses them and creates the new and unorthodox. You can find some of Noki pix HERE



Noki’s SS08 runway show provided all kinds of refashion madness and mix´n´match couture gowns. Outfits were made from all kinds of things including materials once discarded by people, reconstructed with embellishments, new cuts, and new details all made by hand; in a statement against the globalisation of fashion. All looks came fully equiped with a Noki mask and during the couture section this mask was cut to reveal glitter lips!

The thing with Noki is, that his garments aren’t for sale. The designer wants us to COPY HIS WORK. This guy is my new DIY-idol. But how does he make the money to pay his rent if these goodies are not for sale..? Let me know so I can do the same... and write a bestseller about it. I would use the profits to start a support group DDA - Dumpster Divers Anonymous for all you struggling trashionistas and DIY injury victims. :)

Garbagebag by Anne Rantanen

Few years ago I was absolutely sure that the DIY scene in Finland has complitely died. There were no websites/tv programmes/magazines available in Finnish that would have been about trashion or anything related to recycle-crafts.

Then I met Anne Rantanen through a mutual friend... And my hope was restored. Each one of her bags is unique. She makes them from old furnishing fabric, clothes, accessories, buckles, buttons etc. Visit her website or Etsy shop at garbagebag.etsy.com.







And if you like her bags, you should also visit mandinka.etsy.com.





Or bags From Jack&Marjorie.

Inspiration from RinneNiinikoski

Piia Rinne and Noora Niinikoski are Finnish designer duo RinneNiinikoski. They make one-of-a-kind clothing and interior objects from jersey and other textiles. As far as I know their products are not made from recycled fabrics, BUT their designs are so unbeliavably beautiful and playfull that you should check them out just for the inspiration. This is what T-shirt customizing and secondhand fabrics recycling should look like!Available from shop Helsinki10 the best lifestyle&design shop in Helsinki.









RinneNiinikoski´s designs remind me of Singapore designer MakiSquarepatch. I absolutely adore her cartoonlike caracters. Her creations can be found from FLICKR and makisquarepatch.etsy.com.

From short sleeves to long sleeves

Threadbanger.com has an amazing forum where people can share their DIY creations, tutorials, help for any DIY problems or just chit chat about stuff. I have read a lot of craft forums in my time, but I find this has the most creativity and innovativity.

Zombied needed a long sleeved T-shirt for winter but didn´t have any extra jersey lying around. The problem was solved by cutting the sleeve pieces from an another T-shirt. See more pics and discussion HERE

Project ReJEANeration by Del Forte Denim

Del Forte Denim is made with 100 percent organic cotton. Del Forte Denim has partnered with The Sustainable Cotton Project, which has been building bridges between farmers, manufacturers and consumers to pioneer markets for certified organically grown and sustainable cotton.

Project Rejeaneration is simply genious. The idea is that you can send them your old pair of Del Forte´s and theY will reconstruct them into a fab skirt (just one style though)! I just wish other major denim brands would follow up on these kinds of sustainaility projects... And imagine the uniqueness of your denim after the reconstruction!

You can also find some more pics of these Del Forte reconstructions on JanelleP´s Flickr DEL FORTE SET.

Ashley Watson recycled leather bags

Vancouver based designer Ashley Watson handcrafts her one-of-a-kind leather products using exclusively recycled material. She began designing handbags with recycled leather in early 2005, inspired by the original features of jackets purchased from charity thrift stores. Her bags have a very vintage stylish and contemporary look. In my eyes these bags (and her other accessories) look a lot better than some "it-bags" from major fashion brands... The bags used to have a previous lifes and that always fascinates me about recycled materials. In case one of my friends is reading this, please tell my husband to get me one of her bags for xmass :)

Ashley Watson Recycled Leather bags and wallets are now sold online and in stores across North America, and will soon be available in select stores in Europe. Visit her website for more info.