Kieren Jones skin and bones

Using discarded chicken skin and bones, Kieren Jones creates garments and products such as spoons and eggs cups in his home. With the aim of using all the parts of a chicken, he incinerates the bones in his garden, grinds up the ash and reconsitutes them into homewares like egg cups. he also tans the the chicken skins to be used as a cheap leather for garments.



Fast Food Fashion by Neda Niaraki

Central Saint Martins graduate Neda Niaraki was concerned with the idea of “throw-away fashion” and the over consumption of fashion in today’s culture. So she created a collection of garments made from a recyclable fibre called Tyvek. The garments are accessible to anyone and everyone as they are “one size fits all” and are designed to be worn up to 12 times before they deteriorate and can be disposed of. This is intended to stop people buying cheap, un-ethical garments, wearing them only a couple of times, and then throwing them away where they will end up in land fill. These garments will satisfy the population’s want and need to buy more as the trends change, but ease the guilt if they did want to throw them out. I think this is a very interesting approach and a great way of overcoming the over indulgence mixed with guilt. Also the fact that they are being disposed of responsibly is important. However, a lot of the time people do buy garments with the intention of wearing them a lot and seeing them through the seasons, and I think if I bought a garment that I really liked and it deteriorated after a few wears I’d be a bit disappointed.

Bridal Lace Dress by Deborah Milner

Designer Deborah Milner used plastic bags to create a lace effect fabric with which she crafted the “Bridal Lace Dress”.  The bags were knotted using the Japanese shabori technique and then ironed between tracing paper which melted away parts of the plastic to reveal the lace design. This was then appliquéd onto silk tulle and made into the eco-friendly wedding dress.

I think the effect of this method incredible as there was a chance that this concept would just look like a dress made out of plastic bags, however, the outcome is really aesthetically pleasing and I would never have guessed the "lace" was actually plastic.

HIERARCHY OF RECYCLING

AVOIDANCE & MINIMISATION

Includes using less materials for longer

Minimum waste when pattern cutting

RE-USE

Includes clothing exchange, charity shops and eBay

RECYCLING

Involves using waste materials that are good quality

RECOVERY

Includes recovering the energy, for example repolymerisation

DISPOSAL

Land-fill