Our Products
Rescuing, re-using and reimagining the power of fashion to transform fashion means everything to us. It is estimated that around 80%1 of a product’s environmental impact is locked in at the design stage. So we take the drawing board seriously, working towards circular fashion. We are guided by our values and have come up with three design strategies to ensure we are designing out waste, minimising our carbon footprint and transforming the way clothes are designed.
We Rescue
Our products are based on a broad range of rescued quality waste materials, from fibres, fabrics to fasteners, which we put back to work in wardrobes around the world in an effort to build a circular fashion system. We rescue the best materials that are nearing the end of their life in the linear fashion system, and so are getting close to being landfilled or incinerated, and inject them into the circular system by upcycling them into clothes. We are also working to rescue fibres by working with breakthrough recycling partners so that fibres don’t go to waste either.
What is Upcycling?
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The recycling of material into a product of higher quality.//
We Reuse
We reuse excess materials, from textiles, trims to hangtags through the process of upcycling. We choose to be creative with our offcuts, which are salvaged to create trims, hangtag strings or contrast design details, or are recycled back to fabrics. If needed, we reuse any excess inventory by redesigning it into new collections and we offer our customers a take back programme so that we can reuse even our customers’ unwanted The R Collective clothes. And whatever we rescue for reuse, we strive to use as close to zero waste design techniques.
Our Impact
16%
Fabric wastage from traditional pattern cutting2
1% or less
Fabric wastage using The R Collective design method
We Reimagine
Central to reimagining fashion, our products inspire customers to create a conscious closet to love. We design for longevity so that our products enjoy a long use-phase in fashion. Our durable products are easily styled, allowing for our customers to reimagine fashion too.
Even at the drawing board, we re-imagine the power of creativity to solve the crisis of waste, by welcoming the next generation of sustainable designers with their zero waste, upcycling and reconstruction talents into the core of our mission to bring them to market.
Accelerating towards circular fashion
Alongside rescuing, re-using and re-imagining fashion, we are committed to catalysing the circular fashion revolution. We work towards integrating Ellen MaCarthur Foundation’s four Circular Design Strategies; phasing out substances of concern; transforming the way clothes are designed; radically improve recycling by transforming clothing; and making effective use of resources. We are a signatory of Global Fashion Agenda’s 2020 Circular Fashion System Commitment to accelerate the transition to a circular fashion system.
Our Materials
We source textile waste materials from luxury fashion brands, reputable mills and manufacturers. With our expert eye, we select the best quality materials and strive to keep safe, high quality materials in the fashion loop for longer with our circular design principles.
Read More1 Global Fashion Agenda & The Boston Consulting Group 2017.
2 Kasemset et al.