From landfill with love
Fast fashion is seriously bad news for the environment. Around 350,000 tons of clothing and textiles finds its way into landfill in the UK every year, much of which is wearable, recyclable or could be made into something new.
So, meet three forward-thinking fashionistas who rescue and repurpose everything from T-shirts to tablecloths, breathing new life into forgotten fabrics.
I MAKE DESIGNER CLOTHES FROM TABLECLOTHS
Lydia Bolton, 27, lives in North London. She is a sustainable fashion designer (lydiabolton.co.uk) whose latest collection is made from vintage tablecloths Growing up, every spare moment I had was spent sketching clothing ideas. I completed a fashion design course at Kingston University then worked as a design assistant for the House of Holland label for two years.
But my heart lay in sustainable fashion. I was brought up in a zero-waste household where nothing ended up in the bin. My mum even made reusable fabric teabags.
I left my job in 2019 to set up my own label. When I learned how much textile ‘waste’ ended up in landfill each year, it sparked an idea. I would repurpose it into something.
My first collections were created from clothes from charity shops – second-hand branded sportswear or jumpers I’d cut up to create patchwork sweaters or vests.
Then in November last year, I stumbled across a gorgeous white, red and pink gingham-striped 1950s tablecloth on Facebook Marketplace. I realised it would make an amazing shirt and skirt set.
Before I knew it, I’d bought a whole host of vintage cotton and seersucker, striped and checked tablecloths in bright blues, grassy greens and lemony yellows.
Surrounded by the sunny fabrics, I created a capsule collection of beautiful shirts, skirts and shorts which I launched in April this year.
In two weeks, I’d sold out, so I did a tablecloth restock and the orders keep flooding in.
My target market was young women but the mums of my customers have been interested too, inspired by memories of their own childhood dinner tables. I love salvaging tablecloths destined for the bin because they have stains or holes in them. I enjoy the challenge of cutting panels around flaws or embroidering over them.
My customers love the fact they are getting a piece of clothing that’s completely unique.