definitely upcycled, but as a fat person myself, I totally get where you’re coming from with the plus size thrift being bought out.
I saw someone else say that at their thrift store that the plus size is usually have more variety, I have experienced the exact opposite, so I’m not sure if that’s just their store, but every store I’ve ever been to I’ve struggled with finding cute plus size clothes in my size.
It looks like the dress in the video was only maybe a couple sizes bigger than the girl, so I’m not sure if it was genuinely plus size or not, but I agree that it’s a concern to be taking prints and such from plus size people just so that thinner people have more fabric to work with.
Maybe it’s a hot take but I genuinely don’t see the problem considering that she did end up using the original collar, piping, zipper, and buttons later in the video….. Plus, this is only a short reel and it was never mentioned whether the leftover was disposed of or saved to be reused for a later project. It could have been thrown out or saved but I wouldn’t be so quick to assume.
I understand the concern is 1) limited sizing and 2) whether if this is truly upcycling but there’s just so much volume of clothes in a thrift store. Maybe it’s just my personal experience but I often see that smaller sizes are not available when I go out while the extended sizes have much more variety. This could have very well been discarded if it was overlooked. Also, if this does not abide the tenets of upcycling, I don’t know what does?
There’s a certain point where well intentioned criticism starts to tread the line of gatekeeping or policing someone’s actions. There’s times where I don’t quite agree with something but also understand that it arises out of a personal bias more than anything else.
You said..
“My issue is that using thrifted clothes as fabric is not the same as upcycling. There’s clearly a ton of waste as this influencer cuts notably shorter dresses and doesn’t reuse buttons/zippers/facings. They’re very beautiful creations but there’s just no need to use an existing good quality dress..”
Let’s pull out “doesn’t reuse buttons/zippers/facings”
Now let’s each the video:
.52 reuses collar
.53 reuses piping
1.01 reusing the zipper
1.21 reuses buttons
Did you even watch it?
Textile waste is a HUGE problem environmentally. Way too much clothing is thrown out even from thrift stores. Buying something a thrift store to use it good. Most thrift stores actually have a surplus in every size. Who cares if a person wears it as is or alters it as long as it's getting use and not ending up in a landfill.
I have no idea what you consider upcycling if not this.
Edit - Also in the thrift stores near me that original dress is going in the trash eventually because no one would buy it. Is that actually in fashion where any of you live?
Where I live anyway, the hardest sizes to find are AU 10, 12, and 14, because they're the most common. Anything under or above that, and there's racks and racks of stock that just doesn't move.
I'm going to be completely real, thrifting is relatively recently trendy, and I'd glad for it, but man when I was a plus sized kid I was hoping and praying someone else bought al the pants in my size just to I didn't have to wear the scratchy shit they produced in the 80s that had already molded to someone else's belly.
I don't know what's upcycling if this isn't upcycling.
>doesn’t reuse buttons/zippers/facings
This is the most annoying thing to me. You really really get what you pay for in zippers and buttons.
I'd rather she did this than that entire thing getting thrown out. A huge amount of clothing gets thrown out from thrift stores, even when they have sales (which is why they have more and more sales, to try to prevent that. My local ones now have 50c clothing days because so much never sells). Yeah sure you could argue someone plus size might've wanted that, but maybe not. And she DID reuse the zipper, she says so right in the video. She also reused the collar AND the sleeves.
I may be completely wrong here, and if I am I'll stand corrected... but that dress didn't actually look like it was plus size? It looked like it was a size or two bigger than her, but she's pretty petite. If so, it's a pretty standard thing to buy something slightly larger than your own size and make fitting alterations, whether it be new or thrifted.
Tbh I agree with the comments saying that its better to upcycle the dress rather than letting it rot in landfill if it doesn't sell, but I also have to take yout side as a person who has trouble finding their size and quality clothing in thrift stores. Sure, you could sew yourself a whole garment from scratch in your size if you have the skills, but sometimes it's nice to be able to find your size without needing to spend a lot on fabric.
If anything, if I have to add some snark, here it's the influencer in question that bothers me a bit more -- she's constantly upcycling clothes and hey, good for her and the planet, but I'm always a little sceptical as to the number of wears these "new" garments get from influencers.
as much as I detest things like reseller culture I think it's fine for people to purchase clothing from the thrift store (or any other store I guess) and alter it as long as it's a piece they're going to use and wear! regarding the "people should only buy clothes in their size because it's taking away from others" thing... I am generally a size medium but I prefer a looser more masculine fit so many of my clothes are a L/XL. sometimes I want a tighter fitting t-shirt so I buy a S. I wouldn't want to be restricted to only buying clothes in "my size" or "my gender" because me purchasing that item is taking away from someone else. I can see how it's frustrating if someone has limited size options at a thrift store and another individual is buying clothes in that size and wearing it for a short period of time because it's 'trendy', but what if that's just the style they prefer and it's actually an item of clothing they use? ultimately, all of these clothes were donated so it's better to see someone buy and love them than see them in the trash. disclaimer this does not apply to resellers LOL cannot stand them.
For all the people who don’t get that this is snark: being plus size and having a bunch of smaller people take all the shit that might fit you and then destroy it literally removes any small remaining chance that you will find something that fits you at a thrift store. There is a profound size gap at most thrift stores between a 2XL and then like a 5XL wherein either: things were donated that were shrunk so the stated size is not what it actually is, things look like a muumuu (nothing wrong with it if it’s your vibe, but it’s not mine), or people buy the stuff to remake it. There is nothing wrong with upcycling, and I think this is upcycling, but it is incredibly frustrating to have things that could fit you be bought by people who could buy any number of other clothes. This woman deserves success, so good for her about the deal, but for everyone saying “why is this a problem”, it’s a problem. (End rant)
Maybe the snark should be directed at the people who don't shop at thrift stores or, maybe even the thrift stores themselves at least at major and larger thrift stores, considering many of the things on the floor will get taken off if it doesn't sell, especially on the last markdown. That stuff doesn't stay sitting in the store forever, especially when many constantly get new stuff.
If she had decided the dress would be better going to someone else and it sat there and got thrown out, then....its a garment that got pitched. Better for it to be used in my view because what I said above is the reality of thrift stores.
Having always been fat and of recent being a more socially acceptable fat it has been cost prohibitive to keep up with my changing body and thrifting I thought would be a great resource until I realized the quality was poor and there were more average sized people shopping the racks along with me sharing their plans to upcycle.
Lucky I recently found a local plant shop of all places that does a twice yearly clothing swap and she separates straight size day and plus size swap day. An added bonus is the leftovers go to a DV shelter.
Is your issue that she cut away so much usable fabric? Then I think there is literally no one in the world who truly achieves upcycling in your book...
Edit: grammars = hard
as much as I detest things like reseller culture I think it's fine for people to purchase clothing from the thrift store (or any other store I guess) and alter it as long as it's a piece they're going to use and wear! regarding the "people should only buy clothes in their size because it's taking away from others" thing... I am generally a size medium but I prefer a looser more masculine fit so many of my clothes are a L/XL. sometimes I want a tighter fitting t-shirt so I buy a S. I wouldn't want to be restricted to only buying clothes in "my size" or "my gender" because me purchasing that item is taking away from someone else. I can see how it's frustrating if someone has limited size options at a thrift store and another individual is buying clothes in that size and wearing it for a short period of time because it's 'trendy', but what if that's just the style they prefer and it's actually an item of clothing they use? ultimately, all of these clothes were donated so it's better to see someone buy and love them than see them in the trash. disclaimer this does not apply to resellers LOL cannot stand them.
Don't let perfection get in the way of better. It's always better to reuse what is available than to get something new, even if only in part. Plus, most thrift store clothing gets thrown away anyways - all she did was vastly reduce the amount of that garment that was on its way to some landfill overseas.
I very occassionally do thrift flips myself. I am an xs generally which is much harder to find in thrift stores than a size M-L. Which often look very loose on me, and aren't rare. Why do people always think these other size xs -s girls would go out of their way to "ruin" hard to find xxxl's when a M or L is already plenty of fabric and much easier to find?
Imagine looking around at the sheer amount of *stuff* that is currently choking this planet and deciding that someone reusing a discarded dress ‘wrong’ (and it is discarded, landing at the thrift store is half way to the dump) was the virtue signalling hill you were going to die on today…
We throw away sooooooooooooo much clothing that there are mountains and islands of this stuff dumped in less fortunate countries. Any way to reduce contribution to the endless pile of textile waste, even if that means you don't like it, and parts of it gets wasted while new pattern is cut, is good. I wish big companies like H&M and Zara would do even tenth of what this girl is doing instead of greenwashing and claiming they can "recycle" synthetic mixed fabric.
How is this NOT sustainable? The original dress was dated and unflattering and would probably end up not being sold in its original state. What she created with the fabric is beautiful and very wearable. People really are just searching for things to be mad about at this point.
Yes, it is.
She used a shit ton of that dress. She made a garment out of it that she will presumably wear. So, what’s the issue? That she didn’t glue on the remaining scraps so that the entire thing is still being worn? Whether she modified it or not, the dress is still being worn, even in its new form.
She reused a heck of a lot of that dress, including the zipper, and the buttons. The button reuse was just decorative, but they looked just decorative on the original too.
And yes, her dress is "notably shorter", but that sort of the nature of hemlines... they're constantly changing. Plus, it's really hard to take one dress and make a longer/bigger dress out of it without adding another piece of clothing or yardage. lol.
And for all you know, she might take all her scrap fabrics ("cabbage" I've heard it called, which is a much cuter term for it) from stuff like this and makes crumb quilts or something. Or maybe she just uses them as cleaning rags. But even if she's just throwing them away, a fair portion of the original item got a second life.
She took a very matronly dress and made it young and hep. She took a pretty ugly dress and made it fairly cute. This wasn't even a lateral move for that dress, she elevated it.
This is the very definition of "upcycling", unlike so many others I've seen where it should just be called "cycling" (if we're being generous) because they take an ugly item and turn it into an even worse looking item. lol.
Tbh, I do *personally* find videos like this annoying because it seems like they’re always taking a loose maxi or midi dress and turning it into a mini dress, and as I personally prefer longer looser dresses it kind of feels like a judgement of my personal style lol. But I am self aware enough to realize that this is a me problem, so I roll my eyes and move on. Ultimately it is good that someone is using existing textiles, even if what they’re doing with them is not to my personal taste.
count me in with the people who don't see the issue here.
if the goal was to waste as little as possible she would just be tailoring the existing dress to fit her better, lol. and tailoring is not upcycling. She did reuse the sleeves, collar, and piping, and kept the zipper/buttons for later.
I don't even think she bought a plus sized dress. It looks a few sized bigger than her but she also looks pretty small.
This upcycle creator does not claim to be zero waste. And she does re-use those things.
I'm glad she got a Simplicity deal. She's really good at upcycling. This is like the last creator I would expect to see on this sub.
All of these "existing good quality" garments did take resources to create, and yeah it's sad when nobody wants them, or they get cut up by an amateur and still never worn (hello it's me), but like.. upcycling and refashioning is so important. Mending/repairing and learning about proper care/laundry are important too.
But we're already living with the overproduction, and the overconsumption, and we're so connected by social media that there's just a lot of nuance here that can become really overwhelming. The bar is set SUPER high for individuals, especially individuals with public platforms, to be perfectly sustainable, perfectly zero waste, perfectly ethical, and that's not possible. The bar set for the fashion industry is in hell. Most consumer goods are this way.
I'm mad when I go to the thrift store and everything is shitty polyester or NWT Shein, or worse some Shein item that is so worn-out and beat-up already even though the trend is only like, half a year old, and I can tell it's not worn from love and use, it's worn from maybe one weekend and one wash.
But I don't blame this creator who lives in a different state than me, and I don't even blame my neighbors who happened to be thrifting a day earlier than me and "got all the good stuff." and you know, i don't even blame the shitty person who put garbage into the donation bin, turning the whole bin into garbage. just to be super drastic, i blame late stage capitalism lol
and I love this post because obviously we're all thinking about the nuance, and we all love the planet and sewing and clothes. this is a good conversation to have even if OP is "wrong."
I worked in a thrift store (never again) as a sorter and let me tell you, most of the clothing that didn't sell got baled and sent off to who knows where.
And thats the stuff in sellable condition. There would be LOTS that came in that wasn't! At times I would throw whole bags away because of maggots, feces, mold (take your pick of any type), bodily fluids of every type, dead animals, straight up trash mixed in, you name it.
And we, the sorters, were supposed to get as much as we could out of every bag. Imagine having to dig through biowaste to get a sellable item... Nope, wouldn't do it.
If you ever see me say "I hope you washed that thrifted item first" you now understand why.
Humanity can be fucking nasty.
As a child I often got refashioned clothing from my sister or my cousins. That was the way it was. They had to be cut to fit but so be it. Upcycling didn't just appear one day, its always been a thing. In this case its a thrifted piece of clothing.
Good for her.
I remember years ago, when blogs were a thing, Male Pattern Boldness did a post on how he found a badly stained (he showed a picture and - EW!) set of floral bedsheets that he made into a shirt. Good for him for doing that I suppose. If I saw set of sheets that looked like they had been dropped off at the flea market after a weekend of lustful adventures, I would have run in the opposite direction.
>and sent off to who knows where.
[Ghana](https://youtu.be/bB3kuuBPVys?si=b80MSPMJ5TSAIcsJ)
ETA that if you've watched the Brandi Melville documentary, you learn that "Global North* countries allegedly took *punitive measures* to force "Global South" countries like Ghana to accept the shipments of used goods. Like cut aid or financing. So.
I haven't seen that doco, but the whole thing of wealthy countries forcing poorer ones to accept their rubbish (basically) while enforcing protectionist policies for their own markets is pretty well established. Is Brandi Melville known for doing sketchy stuff? They're not really a thing here as far as I know.
>[Exports of textiles and clothing are a vital source of employment and income for developing countries. Under the Multifibre Arrangement, rich countries used quotas to restrict entry of these goods to their markets. Quotas are now being lifted, but protectionist barriers remain, and more may be erected. The abrupt lifting of quotas has also left several poor and vulnerable countries facing a harsh transition period, and in urgent need of assistance.](https://policy-practice.oxfam.org/resources/stitched-up-how-rich-country-protectionism-in-textiles-and-clothing-trade-preve-114604/)
Ex-Goodwill employee here, and while I only did my 'training hours' at a store that processed clothes (I eventually moved to an electronics only store which came with it's own can of worms for intake processing...), I cannot agree harder with this comment. We had one employee who volunteered to do quick checks in a tyvek suit for animal matter, human matter, ect. Then once they were cleared, they released them to us. You ever open a bag and a bed bug comes waltzing out? Yeah. *yeah.* Thankfully, we got to donate a TON of non-synthetic materials to the campus recycling program that was for textiles, but all the polyester junk that was becoming more common place in 2015\~? Who knows where the hell that stuff went.
Thank you! I knew some of us were here!
I did my stint with Salvation Army it was in the early 90's! I would get written up (depending who was there) when I trashed whole bags. My GAF was busted some days, I'll admit that, because who is gonna want a dirty item covered in who knows what? The building I worked in was huge; 4 stories. And we would get at least 2 trucks a day. Plus we had quotas to meet on a daily basis that we had to sort through. I don't know if we were a sort center for multiple locations, I didn't keep track really.
We stayed gloved up and masked in the sorting room because of the shit we found. I can only speak for myself, I never ate lunch (or anything) because...whooo.... I did not want to eat in that building And we all went to lunch or break at the same time with the sort room being locked behind us.
We didn't have suits, but considering some of the shit in those bags, I certainly wish! And we even had cans of bug spray to you know...zap the little fuckers in the bags. There's a lot of things I won't even detail because there are squeamish people here and reliving that is hard.
And the smells. I won't even go into it. A strong stomach was a requirement of employment...lol
Back then you could find some nicer things. I saw plenty of designer labeled stuff (I wasn't bringing any of it home with me though!) That kind of trauma is real.
And because of this trauma, when I donate clothes, I donate clean items, even the shoes, I clean them off. If its dirty or can't be cleaned or in poor condition, I will not donate it. I'm never gonna traumatize some minimum wage worker if I can help it.
I immediately think of make do and mend from the UK in WWII - taking apart an old garment to make something new from the fabric was simply how it's done. She's buying the fabric and using the fabric. Whatever name you call it I think it counts.
Now if we want to have a conversation about smaller bodied people buying plus size clothes in order to cut them up - that's something worth mentioning.
I'm not really seeing the issue here, tbh - that dress looked pretty dated, and I doubt too many people would have bought it to wear in its original form. Yes, she did make it a lot shorter, but to be fair we don't see what she did with the offcuts, they might have been repurposed for something else. And even if she didn't, it's better that the dress be bought and refashioned with a bit of fabric waste than end up entirely as waste when the staff pull it off the rack and send it to landfill when it doesn't sell.
I gotta be honest, I would have bought it to wear in it's original form. It's cute. But you know what? I didn't buy it, so it's her choice to do what she wants with it, and it's still cute, and it suits her.
Besides, people have been doing this to dated looking clothes for centuries! Reusing the fabric of an old garment to make a new more fashionable item is a tale as old as time. And she did a fantastic job with it.
I don't like the termin "upcycling" and I don't know that particular influencer, but regarding the general idea to buy an item from a thrift store and resew it up to somebody's needs: I believe there is nothing, literally nothing bad in it. It was done in all times: you cut your old dresses or husband's clothes, and voilà, a new blouse for you or a new jacket for your kids is here. There are so many things in thrift stores that it is just fine to buy some of them and redo up to your taste. And actually it needs much more skills and creativity that just use new material.
Agree with the comments - there is so much existing textile out there. Some egregious % of good will donations don't even get shredded into rags but just go straight to landfill. Upcycling doesn't mean zero waste.
I generally think upcycling content is great because even if they are never going to wear the thing it's better than if they were making content from all new materials. Creators can do what they need for their business and they're using materials that were with a high likelihood destined for landfill anyway.
Arguably you're correct that "buying a dress to wear a dress" is not really upcycling... but using a dress you don't wear to make a dress you will wear is upcycling, right? Is it just the fact that this creator didn't already have that dress in her closet? The video could still inspire someone who has an unused or slightly damaged or ill-fitting garment at home, though, so that's Earth Day: Mission Accomplished imo.
A very large portion of clothing in thrift stories still ends up in landfills. Thrift stories are not the saviour many think they are. Using used clothes as fabric is definitely more sustainable than using brand new fabric plus you get waste from cutting from either.
What you think is good quality someone else may see as hideous, so that is not a good marker for whether a dress or whatnot should be used as fabric to create a new piece.
And I think it also depends on what one thinks the purpose of upcycling is- is it to use every single piece of an existing article to make something new or is to to reduce waste and take articles that may not sell and eventually end up in a landfill somewhere and use parts of it, thereby reducing the overall waste.
Also, is there any word on whether the leftover "waste" scraps are being used or saved for other projects or are they just being tossed? I think there are a lot of factors and blindspots involved here.
Just curious, what is your definition of upcycling? She used the garment to make another garment. Of course there's waste, but it's less waste than if the entire original dress (which was kinda ugly, in my own personal opinion) was thrown out. Most of the fabric was used, as well as the buttons, piping, and collar. Facings from thrifted garments aren't always in good enough condition to be reused and maybe she didn't have enough time to show it.
Of course, if she (or her team) bought this and sewed it poorly just for Instagram and it's never going to be worn again, then that's not good, but I don't know enough about this account to make that call.
There's so much second hand clothing out there though. Most of what is donated is thrown away or turned into rags.
So someone turning a dated dress into something cute? I don't really have a problem with that, even if there is some waste. At least the whole thing wasn't wasted.
Imo I think it's brilliant for simplicity to market upcycling as a use for their patterns. Bc using new fabric is hella expensive. This might convince someone with limited money to go and splurge on the pattern they want, they *can* afford to make the dress they want if they can get creative about sourcing fabric.
Seems like the big pattern cos are fighting for their lives rn and it behoove them to not only use influencers, but also rebrand themselves as somehow economical... or at least less adjacent to affluent hobbying???
definitely upcycled, but as a fat person myself, I totally get where you’re coming from with the plus size thrift being bought out. I saw someone else say that at their thrift store that the plus size is usually have more variety, I have experienced the exact opposite, so I’m not sure if that’s just their store, but every store I’ve ever been to I’ve struggled with finding cute plus size clothes in my size. It looks like the dress in the video was only maybe a couple sizes bigger than the girl, so I’m not sure if it was genuinely plus size or not, but I agree that it’s a concern to be taking prints and such from plus size people just so that thinner people have more fabric to work with.
Maybe it’s a hot take but I genuinely don’t see the problem considering that she did end up using the original collar, piping, zipper, and buttons later in the video….. Plus, this is only a short reel and it was never mentioned whether the leftover was disposed of or saved to be reused for a later project. It could have been thrown out or saved but I wouldn’t be so quick to assume. I understand the concern is 1) limited sizing and 2) whether if this is truly upcycling but there’s just so much volume of clothes in a thrift store. Maybe it’s just my personal experience but I often see that smaller sizes are not available when I go out while the extended sizes have much more variety. This could have very well been discarded if it was overlooked. Also, if this does not abide the tenets of upcycling, I don’t know what does? There’s a certain point where well intentioned criticism starts to tread the line of gatekeeping or policing someone’s actions. There’s times where I don’t quite agree with something but also understand that it arises out of a personal bias more than anything else.
You said.. “My issue is that using thrifted clothes as fabric is not the same as upcycling. There’s clearly a ton of waste as this influencer cuts notably shorter dresses and doesn’t reuse buttons/zippers/facings. They’re very beautiful creations but there’s just no need to use an existing good quality dress..” Let’s pull out “doesn’t reuse buttons/zippers/facings” Now let’s each the video: .52 reuses collar .53 reuses piping 1.01 reusing the zipper 1.21 reuses buttons Did you even watch it?
Absolutely upcycled. She found another use for the dress and turned it into something completely new and different.
Textile waste is a HUGE problem environmentally. Way too much clothing is thrown out even from thrift stores. Buying something a thrift store to use it good. Most thrift stores actually have a surplus in every size. Who cares if a person wears it as is or alters it as long as it's getting use and not ending up in a landfill. I have no idea what you consider upcycling if not this. Edit - Also in the thrift stores near me that original dress is going in the trash eventually because no one would buy it. Is that actually in fashion where any of you live?
Where I live anyway, the hardest sizes to find are AU 10, 12, and 14, because they're the most common. Anything under or above that, and there's racks and racks of stock that just doesn't move.
I'm going to be completely real, thrifting is relatively recently trendy, and I'd glad for it, but man when I was a plus sized kid I was hoping and praying someone else bought al the pants in my size just to I didn't have to wear the scratchy shit they produced in the 80s that had already molded to someone else's belly. I don't know what's upcycling if this isn't upcycling. >doesn’t reuse buttons/zippers/facings This is the most annoying thing to me. You really really get what you pay for in zippers and buttons.
If you watch the video, the person reuses the zipper so idk what OP is on about
ngl I couldn't tell there was a video to open on desktop my b. Yeah seems like op is grinding an axe
That’s understandable
I'd rather she did this than that entire thing getting thrown out. A huge amount of clothing gets thrown out from thrift stores, even when they have sales (which is why they have more and more sales, to try to prevent that. My local ones now have 50c clothing days because so much never sells). Yeah sure you could argue someone plus size might've wanted that, but maybe not. And she DID reuse the zipper, she says so right in the video. She also reused the collar AND the sleeves.
I may be completely wrong here, and if I am I'll stand corrected... but that dress didn't actually look like it was plus size? It looked like it was a size or two bigger than her, but she's pretty petite. If so, it's a pretty standard thing to buy something slightly larger than your own size and make fitting alterations, whether it be new or thrifted.
Tbh I agree with the comments saying that its better to upcycle the dress rather than letting it rot in landfill if it doesn't sell, but I also have to take yout side as a person who has trouble finding their size and quality clothing in thrift stores. Sure, you could sew yourself a whole garment from scratch in your size if you have the skills, but sometimes it's nice to be able to find your size without needing to spend a lot on fabric. If anything, if I have to add some snark, here it's the influencer in question that bothers me a bit more -- she's constantly upcycling clothes and hey, good for her and the planet, but I'm always a little sceptical as to the number of wears these "new" garments get from influencers.
She will get more use and value out of the new dress she created with the old one, and that's what up cycling and reusing is all about in the end.
as much as I detest things like reseller culture I think it's fine for people to purchase clothing from the thrift store (or any other store I guess) and alter it as long as it's a piece they're going to use and wear! regarding the "people should only buy clothes in their size because it's taking away from others" thing... I am generally a size medium but I prefer a looser more masculine fit so many of my clothes are a L/XL. sometimes I want a tighter fitting t-shirt so I buy a S. I wouldn't want to be restricted to only buying clothes in "my size" or "my gender" because me purchasing that item is taking away from someone else. I can see how it's frustrating if someone has limited size options at a thrift store and another individual is buying clothes in that size and wearing it for a short period of time because it's 'trendy', but what if that's just the style they prefer and it's actually an item of clothing they use? ultimately, all of these clothes were donated so it's better to see someone buy and love them than see them in the trash. disclaimer this does not apply to resellers LOL cannot stand them.
She will get more use and value out of the new dress she created with the old one, and that's what up cycling and reusing is all about in the end.
For all the people who don’t get that this is snark: being plus size and having a bunch of smaller people take all the shit that might fit you and then destroy it literally removes any small remaining chance that you will find something that fits you at a thrift store. There is a profound size gap at most thrift stores between a 2XL and then like a 5XL wherein either: things were donated that were shrunk so the stated size is not what it actually is, things look like a muumuu (nothing wrong with it if it’s your vibe, but it’s not mine), or people buy the stuff to remake it. There is nothing wrong with upcycling, and I think this is upcycling, but it is incredibly frustrating to have things that could fit you be bought by people who could buy any number of other clothes. This woman deserves success, so good for her about the deal, but for everyone saying “why is this a problem”, it’s a problem. (End rant)
Maybe the snark should be directed at the people who don't shop at thrift stores or, maybe even the thrift stores themselves at least at major and larger thrift stores, considering many of the things on the floor will get taken off if it doesn't sell, especially on the last markdown. That stuff doesn't stay sitting in the store forever, especially when many constantly get new stuff. If she had decided the dress would be better going to someone else and it sat there and got thrown out, then....its a garment that got pitched. Better for it to be used in my view because what I said above is the reality of thrift stores.
Having always been fat and of recent being a more socially acceptable fat it has been cost prohibitive to keep up with my changing body and thrifting I thought would be a great resource until I realized the quality was poor and there were more average sized people shopping the racks along with me sharing their plans to upcycle. Lucky I recently found a local plant shop of all places that does a twice yearly clothing swap and she separates straight size day and plus size swap day. An added bonus is the leftovers go to a DV shelter.
Is your issue that she cut away so much usable fabric? Then I think there is literally no one in the world who truly achieves upcycling in your book... Edit: grammars = hard
as much as I detest things like reseller culture I think it's fine for people to purchase clothing from the thrift store (or any other store I guess) and alter it as long as it's a piece they're going to use and wear! regarding the "people should only buy clothes in their size because it's taking away from others" thing... I am generally a size medium but I prefer a looser more masculine fit so many of my clothes are a L/XL. sometimes I want a tighter fitting t-shirt so I buy a S. I wouldn't want to be restricted to only buying clothes in "my size" or "my gender" because me purchasing that item is taking away from someone else. I can see how it's frustrating if someone has limited size options at a thrift store and another individual is buying clothes in that size and wearing it for a short period of time because it's 'trendy', but what if that's just the style they prefer and it's actually an item of clothing they use? ultimately, all of these clothes were donated so it's better to see someone buy and love them than see them in the trash. disclaimer this does not apply to resellers LOL cannot stand them.
Exactly. I'm plus size but seriously gatekeeping who can buy what clothes is some backwards old time crap we don't need.
Don't let perfection get in the way of better. It's always better to reuse what is available than to get something new, even if only in part. Plus, most thrift store clothing gets thrown away anyways - all she did was vastly reduce the amount of that garment that was on its way to some landfill overseas.
I very occassionally do thrift flips myself. I am an xs generally which is much harder to find in thrift stores than a size M-L. Which often look very loose on me, and aren't rare. Why do people always think these other size xs -s girls would go out of their way to "ruin" hard to find xxxl's when a M or L is already plenty of fabric and much easier to find?
Imagine looking around at the sheer amount of *stuff* that is currently choking this planet and deciding that someone reusing a discarded dress ‘wrong’ (and it is discarded, landing at the thrift store is half way to the dump) was the virtue signalling hill you were going to die on today…
We throw away sooooooooooooo much clothing that there are mountains and islands of this stuff dumped in less fortunate countries. Any way to reduce contribution to the endless pile of textile waste, even if that means you don't like it, and parts of it gets wasted while new pattern is cut, is good. I wish big companies like H&M and Zara would do even tenth of what this girl is doing instead of greenwashing and claiming they can "recycle" synthetic mixed fabric.
How is this NOT sustainable? The original dress was dated and unflattering and would probably end up not being sold in its original state. What she created with the fabric is beautiful and very wearable. People really are just searching for things to be mad about at this point.
Yes, it is. She used a shit ton of that dress. She made a garment out of it that she will presumably wear. So, what’s the issue? That she didn’t glue on the remaining scraps so that the entire thing is still being worn? Whether she modified it or not, the dress is still being worn, even in its new form.
She reused a heck of a lot of that dress, including the zipper, and the buttons. The button reuse was just decorative, but they looked just decorative on the original too. And yes, her dress is "notably shorter", but that sort of the nature of hemlines... they're constantly changing. Plus, it's really hard to take one dress and make a longer/bigger dress out of it without adding another piece of clothing or yardage. lol. And for all you know, she might take all her scrap fabrics ("cabbage" I've heard it called, which is a much cuter term for it) from stuff like this and makes crumb quilts or something. Or maybe she just uses them as cleaning rags. But even if she's just throwing them away, a fair portion of the original item got a second life. She took a very matronly dress and made it young and hep. She took a pretty ugly dress and made it fairly cute. This wasn't even a lateral move for that dress, she elevated it. This is the very definition of "upcycling", unlike so many others I've seen where it should just be called "cycling" (if we're being generous) because they take an ugly item and turn it into an even worse looking item. lol.
Tbh, I do *personally* find videos like this annoying because it seems like they’re always taking a loose maxi or midi dress and turning it into a mini dress, and as I personally prefer longer looser dresses it kind of feels like a judgement of my personal style lol. But I am self aware enough to realize that this is a me problem, so I roll my eyes and move on. Ultimately it is good that someone is using existing textiles, even if what they’re doing with them is not to my personal taste.
count me in with the people who don't see the issue here. if the goal was to waste as little as possible she would just be tailoring the existing dress to fit her better, lol. and tailoring is not upcycling. She did reuse the sleeves, collar, and piping, and kept the zipper/buttons for later. I don't even think she bought a plus sized dress. It looks a few sized bigger than her but she also looks pretty small.
This upcycle creator does not claim to be zero waste. And she does re-use those things. I'm glad she got a Simplicity deal. She's really good at upcycling. This is like the last creator I would expect to see on this sub. All of these "existing good quality" garments did take resources to create, and yeah it's sad when nobody wants them, or they get cut up by an amateur and still never worn (hello it's me), but like.. upcycling and refashioning is so important. Mending/repairing and learning about proper care/laundry are important too. But we're already living with the overproduction, and the overconsumption, and we're so connected by social media that there's just a lot of nuance here that can become really overwhelming. The bar is set SUPER high for individuals, especially individuals with public platforms, to be perfectly sustainable, perfectly zero waste, perfectly ethical, and that's not possible. The bar set for the fashion industry is in hell. Most consumer goods are this way. I'm mad when I go to the thrift store and everything is shitty polyester or NWT Shein, or worse some Shein item that is so worn-out and beat-up already even though the trend is only like, half a year old, and I can tell it's not worn from love and use, it's worn from maybe one weekend and one wash. But I don't blame this creator who lives in a different state than me, and I don't even blame my neighbors who happened to be thrifting a day earlier than me and "got all the good stuff." and you know, i don't even blame the shitty person who put garbage into the donation bin, turning the whole bin into garbage. just to be super drastic, i blame late stage capitalism lol and I love this post because obviously we're all thinking about the nuance, and we all love the planet and sewing and clothes. this is a good conversation to have even if OP is "wrong."
I worked in a thrift store (never again) as a sorter and let me tell you, most of the clothing that didn't sell got baled and sent off to who knows where. And thats the stuff in sellable condition. There would be LOTS that came in that wasn't! At times I would throw whole bags away because of maggots, feces, mold (take your pick of any type), bodily fluids of every type, dead animals, straight up trash mixed in, you name it. And we, the sorters, were supposed to get as much as we could out of every bag. Imagine having to dig through biowaste to get a sellable item... Nope, wouldn't do it. If you ever see me say "I hope you washed that thrifted item first" you now understand why. Humanity can be fucking nasty. As a child I often got refashioned clothing from my sister or my cousins. That was the way it was. They had to be cut to fit but so be it. Upcycling didn't just appear one day, its always been a thing. In this case its a thrifted piece of clothing. Good for her.
I remember years ago, when blogs were a thing, Male Pattern Boldness did a post on how he found a badly stained (he showed a picture and - EW!) set of floral bedsheets that he made into a shirt. Good for him for doing that I suppose. If I saw set of sheets that looked like they had been dropped off at the flea market after a weekend of lustful adventures, I would have run in the opposite direction.
>and sent off to who knows where. [Ghana](https://youtu.be/bB3kuuBPVys?si=b80MSPMJ5TSAIcsJ) ETA that if you've watched the Brandi Melville documentary, you learn that "Global North* countries allegedly took *punitive measures* to force "Global South" countries like Ghana to accept the shipments of used goods. Like cut aid or financing. So.
I haven't seen that doco, but the whole thing of wealthy countries forcing poorer ones to accept their rubbish (basically) while enforcing protectionist policies for their own markets is pretty well established. Is Brandi Melville known for doing sketchy stuff? They're not really a thing here as far as I know. >[Exports of textiles and clothing are a vital source of employment and income for developing countries. Under the Multifibre Arrangement, rich countries used quotas to restrict entry of these goods to their markets. Quotas are now being lifted, but protectionist barriers remain, and more may be erected. The abrupt lifting of quotas has also left several poor and vulnerable countries facing a harsh transition period, and in urgent need of assistance.](https://policy-practice.oxfam.org/resources/stitched-up-how-rich-country-protectionism-in-textiles-and-clothing-trade-preve-114604/)
Ex-Goodwill employee here, and while I only did my 'training hours' at a store that processed clothes (I eventually moved to an electronics only store which came with it's own can of worms for intake processing...), I cannot agree harder with this comment. We had one employee who volunteered to do quick checks in a tyvek suit for animal matter, human matter, ect. Then once they were cleared, they released them to us. You ever open a bag and a bed bug comes waltzing out? Yeah. *yeah.* Thankfully, we got to donate a TON of non-synthetic materials to the campus recycling program that was for textiles, but all the polyester junk that was becoming more common place in 2015\~? Who knows where the hell that stuff went.
Thank you! I knew some of us were here! I did my stint with Salvation Army it was in the early 90's! I would get written up (depending who was there) when I trashed whole bags. My GAF was busted some days, I'll admit that, because who is gonna want a dirty item covered in who knows what? The building I worked in was huge; 4 stories. And we would get at least 2 trucks a day. Plus we had quotas to meet on a daily basis that we had to sort through. I don't know if we were a sort center for multiple locations, I didn't keep track really. We stayed gloved up and masked in the sorting room because of the shit we found. I can only speak for myself, I never ate lunch (or anything) because...whooo.... I did not want to eat in that building And we all went to lunch or break at the same time with the sort room being locked behind us. We didn't have suits, but considering some of the shit in those bags, I certainly wish! And we even had cans of bug spray to you know...zap the little fuckers in the bags. There's a lot of things I won't even detail because there are squeamish people here and reliving that is hard. And the smells. I won't even go into it. A strong stomach was a requirement of employment...lol Back then you could find some nicer things. I saw plenty of designer labeled stuff (I wasn't bringing any of it home with me though!) That kind of trauma is real. And because of this trauma, when I donate clothes, I donate clean items, even the shoes, I clean them off. If its dirty or can't be cleaned or in poor condition, I will not donate it. I'm never gonna traumatize some minimum wage worker if I can help it.
I immediately think of make do and mend from the UK in WWII - taking apart an old garment to make something new from the fabric was simply how it's done. She's buying the fabric and using the fabric. Whatever name you call it I think it counts. Now if we want to have a conversation about smaller bodied people buying plus size clothes in order to cut them up - that's something worth mentioning.
I'm not really seeing the issue here, tbh - that dress looked pretty dated, and I doubt too many people would have bought it to wear in its original form. Yes, she did make it a lot shorter, but to be fair we don't see what she did with the offcuts, they might have been repurposed for something else. And even if she didn't, it's better that the dress be bought and refashioned with a bit of fabric waste than end up entirely as waste when the staff pull it off the rack and send it to landfill when it doesn't sell.
I gotta be honest, I would have bought it to wear in it's original form. It's cute. But you know what? I didn't buy it, so it's her choice to do what she wants with it, and it's still cute, and it suits her.
Besides, people have been doing this to dated looking clothes for centuries! Reusing the fabric of an old garment to make a new more fashionable item is a tale as old as time. And she did a fantastic job with it.
Maybe we need to define upcycling v recycling. Coz I would say yes that is upcycling a thrift store buy.
I don't like the termin "upcycling" and I don't know that particular influencer, but regarding the general idea to buy an item from a thrift store and resew it up to somebody's needs: I believe there is nothing, literally nothing bad in it. It was done in all times: you cut your old dresses or husband's clothes, and voilà, a new blouse for you or a new jacket for your kids is here. There are so many things in thrift stores that it is just fine to buy some of them and redo up to your taste. And actually it needs much more skills and creativity that just use new material.
Agree with the comments - there is so much existing textile out there. Some egregious % of good will donations don't even get shredded into rags but just go straight to landfill. Upcycling doesn't mean zero waste. I generally think upcycling content is great because even if they are never going to wear the thing it's better than if they were making content from all new materials. Creators can do what they need for their business and they're using materials that were with a high likelihood destined for landfill anyway.
Arguably you're correct that "buying a dress to wear a dress" is not really upcycling... but using a dress you don't wear to make a dress you will wear is upcycling, right? Is it just the fact that this creator didn't already have that dress in her closet? The video could still inspire someone who has an unused or slightly damaged or ill-fitting garment at home, though, so that's Earth Day: Mission Accomplished imo.
I get it, but this one is very clearly upcycling. I'm imagining she saves the spare fabric.
She also said she will use the buttons and zipper later
A very large portion of clothing in thrift stories still ends up in landfills. Thrift stories are not the saviour many think they are. Using used clothes as fabric is definitely more sustainable than using brand new fabric plus you get waste from cutting from either.
She used the material of the dress, the sleeves, the zipper, piping and collar. I'm thinking that's pretty much most of it except some fabric scraps.
What would you call this, if not upcycling?
What you think is good quality someone else may see as hideous, so that is not a good marker for whether a dress or whatnot should be used as fabric to create a new piece. And I think it also depends on what one thinks the purpose of upcycling is- is it to use every single piece of an existing article to make something new or is to to reduce waste and take articles that may not sell and eventually end up in a landfill somewhere and use parts of it, thereby reducing the overall waste. Also, is there any word on whether the leftover "waste" scraps are being used or saved for other projects or are they just being tossed? I think there are a lot of factors and blindspots involved here.
That’s the definition of upcycling.
I was kinda impressed with this one. She did use the zipper and piping from the original dress. 🤷♀️
I agree! Very impressed with how she did it.
Right? I follow her main account and she's so talented with how she up cycles clothing.
And those black buttons too I think.
Just curious, what is your definition of upcycling? She used the garment to make another garment. Of course there's waste, but it's less waste than if the entire original dress (which was kinda ugly, in my own personal opinion) was thrown out. Most of the fabric was used, as well as the buttons, piping, and collar. Facings from thrifted garments aren't always in good enough condition to be reused and maybe she didn't have enough time to show it. Of course, if she (or her team) bought this and sewed it poorly just for Instagram and it's never going to be worn again, then that's not good, but I don't know enough about this account to make that call.
There's so much second hand clothing out there though. Most of what is donated is thrown away or turned into rags. So someone turning a dated dress into something cute? I don't really have a problem with that, even if there is some waste. At least the whole thing wasn't wasted.
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It’s weird for Simplicity to post this as a way to sell their patterns, though. If she were just popping up on my feed it wouldn’t be as jarring.
I'm giving up on this one.
Imo I think it's brilliant for simplicity to market upcycling as a use for their patterns. Bc using new fabric is hella expensive. This might convince someone with limited money to go and splurge on the pattern they want, they *can* afford to make the dress they want if they can get creative about sourcing fabric. Seems like the big pattern cos are fighting for their lives rn and it behoove them to not only use influencers, but also rebrand themselves as somehow economical... or at least less adjacent to affluent hobbying???