2 days ago
Entrepreneur UK's London 100: Alterist
Alterist brings together designers, brands, and consumers to rethink how fashion is made, and what it's made from.
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Industry: Fashion
Alterist was founded in London by activists-turned-entrepreneurs Hannah Standen and Martina Sorghi. It is an upcycle fashion ecosystem finding opportunity in waste. Alterist brings together designers, brands, and consumers to rethink how fashion is made, and what it's made from.
"We were tired of seeing brands talk about sustainability while sitting on warehouses full of unsold clothes," says co-founder Hannah Standen. "Meanwhile, small designers were already doing the work. Alterist connects those worlds, building a system where designers can grow, waste is seen as raw material, and culture is just as important as the clothes."
But, with an estimated £230bn worth of unsold inventory sitting in warehouses globally, they knew the problem wasn't just about consumer habits, it was systemic. Which is why they also work directly with brands, matching them with designers to turn surplus stock, returns, and offcuts into new collections.
One example is their collaboration with Sproot Baby, where they reworked preloved baby suits from their buy-back scheme into a range of hats and headbands. This kept materials in circulation, opened a new revenue stream, and reinforced Sproot's values as an ethical brand.
Back to their activist roots, the founders always believed that changing the system means changing the culture. That's why they run campaigns and experiences designed to spark new conversations around fashion. Their Making Is Hot campaign, featured in Dazed, spotlighted the designers behind the clothes, flipping the focus from finished products to the people who make them.
Shot in a studio built from borrowed, second-hand and upcycled materials, the campaign celebrated craft as culture and reframed making as an act of rebellion in an industry obsessed with speed and newness.
Their events bring this momentum too. Most recently, they hosted F**K Black Friday at Camden Open Air Gallery, a takeover celebrating upcycled fashion, independent designers and creative resistance in a season dominated by overconsumption. Alongside exhibitions and live DJs, they ran hands-on workshops and conversations that gave people the tools to repair, customise and rethink their clothes.
From the products to the pop-ups, every part of Alterist is designed to challenge the narrative of what fashion can be.
"Upcycling has been around for centuries, but we've lost touch with the value of making. Fast fashion made us forget the time, skill, and materials that go into clothes. Alterist is about reclaiming that. To remind people that fashion isn't just about the end product, it's about what went into it, and who's behind it," says Sorghi.
Alterist is creating a disruptive new model for fashion. One that turns waste into work, surplus into self-expression, and discarded materials into culture. They are using fashion culture to drive change and rewire the system; creatively, collectively, and from the ground up.
