Fast Retailing-owned fashion business Uniqlo has today started selling its Everyday Re:Imagined range in European flagship stores – bringing a substantial upcycled collection to market for the first time.
The ten-piece collection created from returned Uniqlo items in collaboration with graduates from the BA Fashion course at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, is available to purchase in 15 stores across Europe – including Uniqlo’s four London shops and its Edinburgh site.
Items that may have been damaged or imperfect and therefore discarded have been turned into a limited-edition collection, in a move the retailer hopes will become an ongoing initiative whereby ‘upcycled’ sits alongside new on the shopfloor.
Everyday Re:Imagined includes reshaped AIRism T-shirts, rebuilt trousers, and reworked cotton fabrics – but each piece retains the character of the original garment. No two designs are exactly alike, but there is a signature footprint to the collection which aims to elevate upcycled goods in the eye of the consumer.
Green Retail World attended the unveiling of the range, on Tuesday evening, and learned Uniqlo is making significant progress in improving the traceability of its supply chain. The business said it was important to build long-term supplier relationships so the wider industry can work together to make fashion a more sustainable sector in which to operate.
Maria Samoto le Dous, Uniqlo Europe head of sustainability, commented: “Collaborating with Central Saint Martins and its incredibly talented emerging designers has been both inspiring and energising.
“This project shows that innovation in fashion doesn’t always begin with something new, but with a new way of seeing what already exists. By combining their creative perspective with our LifeWear philosophy, we demonstrate how everyday clothing can be continuously reimagined extending not only its lifecycle, but its meaning.”
Sarah Gresty, course leader, BA Fashion Design at Central Saint Martins, said: “The most exciting ideas in fashion often begin by looking at something familiar in a completely different way.”
Everyday Re:Imagined will be available in limited quantities, and the stores selling the items are encouraged to tell the story of the range and provide customers with information about the push towards circularity. Prices for the ten items range between £29.90 and £89.90.
Fashion’s relationship with sustainability is not an easy one – garments leave such a footprint on the planet, but this latest launch is an example of where businesses can become less reliant on virgin new material in the composition of clothing and accessories.
Indeed, the challenge for the likes of Uniqlo in shifting their business models to become better for the environment was laid bare yesterday, when the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld its own view from last December that Uniqlo had used the term “recycled materials” in a way that could mislead customers.
The case was specifically in reference to a paid-for Google ad for fleece jackets. Uniqlo argued the landing page the ad redirected to explained the material composition clearly, but ASA told the retailer not to run similar ads in the future.
Uniqlo having its knuckles rapped this week is part of ASA’s ongoing work investigating the validity of sustainability claims in fashion retail, and the authority’s work in clamping down on misleading claims to consumers around sustainability.
[image credit: Green Retail World]
