Teaser for Sewn Secondhand: How Upcycling Businesses Succeed by Prioritizing Sustainability

Overconsumption and textile waste have become an ever-worsening problem, with most fast fashion pieces worn just 10 times or less before being discarded and nearly 100 million tons of textile waste ending up in landfills each year. Love for microtrends and a fear of being an "outfit repeater" have further amplified these practices.

Fortunately, thrifting and secondhand shopping has increasing in popularity, reducing some (though not enough) demand for brand-new apparel. With sustainable lifestyle movements and individual action becoming more prevalent, there is noticeable movement towards more thoughtful purchasing. Yet, people still want to showcase their individuality in unique and never-before-seen styles, a feat not always possible with simply buying secondhand.

That's where upcycling comes in. The process of taking old or discarded pieces and turning them into something new, upcycling has become a way for creative, fashion-focused individuals to give a second life to outdated or discarded textiles.

We chatted with two innovative entrepreneurs, Ashly Donna of Denim Donna and Fiona Duffy of Soleil et Amis. These two upcycling aficionados have used their skills, and passion for sustainability, to build successful and unique businesses that bridge the gap between old and new.

Both of these amazing founders deserve a blog post all of their own, so we decided to break up this piece into a two-part blog post. Over the next two weeks, we will be posting two articles, giving both Ashly and Fiona their own article to truly showcase the full impact of their endeavors.

We look forward to sharing this project with you, and hope you will tune in next week on August 14th for our first blog post in the Sewn Secondhand series, featuring Denim Donna!