Avoid wearing the same thing as everyone else with clever upcycled fashion buys

Telegraph

05-04-2025

Up and down the country, there are thousands of people busy upcycling, often quietly and offline. These, however, are my personal favourites; some are brands that I have worn for years, others I've admired for some time and was thrilled to try out in person for this shoot.
There are yet more that I couldn't include because by the very nature of upcycling – limited fabrics, made-to-order models and one-off pieces – there wasn't anything available to shoot. But that's what's so exciting about embracing the brands that make upcycling their business: you'll often end up with a completely unique item of clothing.
Take World Secrets' 'Carpet Clog', for example (see below). It's no exaggeration to say that I get complimented on these shoes every time I wear them, often by strangers; in fact, a young man at Waterloo Station stopped me to ask about them as I was on my way home from this shoot.
So what's the difference between upcycling and recycling? Recycling involves breaking down materials, often by shredding or using a chemical process, before reconstituting them into a new raw material, like polyester made from plastic bottles. Upcycling simply takes the original item and repurposes it into something else as it is, meaning that you can often see evidence of the original item in the new one. My aforementioned clogs, for example, are made from vintage rugs that have been cut up and repurposed, preserving the beautiful original pattern.
It's a celebratory way of embracing responsibly made fashion, because you can wear your sustainability credentials on your sleeve (literally). I challenged myself to put together five outfits made up entirely of upcycled items, and it was much easier than I expected.
Look 1
Screen printed preloved shirt, £160, Caroline Dickinson; Patchwork jeans, £130, Beyond Retro x Seasalt Cornwall; Necklace, made from vintage and preloved beads, £65, Studio Bowe; Trainers, part of a previous collection, Helen Kirkum
Every one of Caroline Dickinson's shirts is unique; she sources vintage silk and cotton shirts, and then screen prints her own geometric designs onto them. Often mens' shirts and so, oversized in style, Caroline's Instagram account is packed with styling tips, which is where I nabbed this natty half-in, half-out idea. I've also tried knotting at the waist, which looks great too.
The jeans are from an exciting collaboration between vintage favourite Beyond Retro and the high street's very own Seasalt Cornwall, bringing upcycling to the attention of a wider audience that may have never previously considered it as an option for their own wardrobes. See also the cracking jacket I'm wearing later on.
Look 2
Patchwork 'Iris' waistcoat, made from vintage Levi's, £125, The Well Worn; Denim 'Harvard' skirt, made from vintage jeans, £395, E.L.V. Denim; 'Huxley' bag, made from deadstock denim, £165, LPOL; Trainers, made using factory leftover leather, £150, D-Stock by Grenson; Bracelet, made from vintage and preloved beads, £40, Studio Bowe
Denim is the perfect material for upcycling, since it's incredibly hard-wearing and there's absolutely loads of it already in existence. E.L.V. is on a mission to never let usable jeans, jackets or skirts go to waste, and it also upcycles hotel bedsheets into shirting and dresses. Garments are made from the usable sections of items that have rips or stains; smaller scraps and threads are patchworked, made into paper, or reused as insulation.
When not using the Japanese method of sashiko to breathe new life into old jeans, The Well Worn makes them into waistcoats like this one. Meanwhile, LPOL uses deadstock denim for its bucket bags, Grenson's D-Stock line creates trainers from factory leftover leather, and Studio Bowe's gobstopper-style jewellery is a celebration of vintage and preloved beads, hand picked and strung by its founder, the stylist Bertie Bowen.
Look 3
Blouse, made from vintage embroidered linen and reclaimed cotton, £180, Spilt Milk; Jeans, made from two pairs of old jeans, £315, E.L.V. Denim; Bag, made from an old dress, from £30, Loom App; Carpet clogs, made from vintage rugs, £155, World Secrets
I follow a number of one-woman brands on Instagram that use the likes of vintage tablecloths, curtains and bed linen, rather than buying new fabrics to make their clothing. This results in the most beautiful one-off pieces that showcase the material's former life. The blouse I'm wearing here is part of a set from Spilt Milk; founder Rosina Hoyland posts fascinating behind the scenes videos of the making process to her 200k+ followers, so you can follow the upcycling process from start to finish.
This bag used to be a dress of mine. It hadn't fitted for years and the zip was broken, but I'd always loved the suede. I used the new Loom app to connect with one of its hundreds of designers and was matched with Maddie from Selvedge, who turned it into a roomy tote. We exchanged ideas and pictures via the app, and I'm so pleased with the result. I've only had it back for about a month but I've already used it more than I ever wore the dress.
Look 4
Dress, made using end-of-line ex-designer fabric, £420, Freya Simonne freyasimonne.com; Boots, made from reclaimed leather, £200, Dr Martens drmartens.com; Bag, £40, made using reclaimed hovercraft skirt rubber, by Offkuttt (Available via Instagram @offkuttt or at Hovertravel in Ryde, Isle of Wight)
Don't discount occasion-wear from the upcycling revolution. Freya Rabet became disillusioned with the fashion industry after working as a designer for 10 years, and quit to launch her own brand – Freya Simonne – after success selling her signature designs made using reclaimed quilts and vintage sleeping bags. It now specialises in occasion-wear, all made using beautiful fabrics that already exist.
While I would wear this dress to a fancy event, I've styled it more casually here with some stompy boots from Dr Martens - a classic, but this particular pair is made using reclaimed leather. And let's talk about this bag, because it's one of my favourite upcycling stories of all time. It's made using reclaimed rubber which Offcuttt's Aine Naylor sources from Hovertravel, the Isle of Wight's commercial hovercraft company. The rubber used to be the skirt that inflates and flies the passengers across the Solent; it's now a selection of bags that can be bought at the gift shop while you wait to travel.
Look 5
'Mary' dress, made using couture deadstock tweed and upcycled denim, £195, Studio ReMade studioremadeshop.co.uk; Patchwork denim jacket, £145, Beyond Retro x Seasalt Cornwall seasaltcornwall.com; Collage 'Palimpset' sneakers, made using reclaimed trainers £475, Helen Kirkum helenkirkum.com; 'Bon Bon' necklace, made from vintage and preloved beads, £55, Studio Bowe studiobowe.com
I've featured dresses by Studio Remade on these pages before, but haven't talked much about its upcycling credentials. This is how we do sustainability around here - by stealth, if you will - because the people doing it well are making clothes that are beautiful in their own right that don't need to come with an explanation. The explanations are good though, aren't they? So let's get into this one. This dress uses couture deadstock tweed for its skirt; paired with denim, it makes a dress far more versatile than the garment that the fabric was originally destined for.
Which is why it looks great with trainers, especially these from upcycling genius Helen Kirkum. They're made using old sneakers that would otherwise be destined for landfill, sourced from Traid, Royal Trinity Hospice and the Salvation Army. Shoes are cleaned and deconstructed, before being collaged into a unique new upper and finished with a new (recycled) sole.