Beautifully Recycled.

It’s Monday. You wake up last minute.

Coffee spills on your outfit. You just throw on whatever. Some manufactured over-worn t-shirts. It works. It doesn’t matter. Or so you think.

You go about your day. Meetings. Office small talk. More coffee. You get home .. Just to realize… You’ve had a massive hole in your shirt. (Along with a sizable rip) “I’m cool. So cool.”

As you start to hurl the worn t-shirt into the trash… You stop to think…What if this wasn’t trash? What if this could be more? What if this simple and basic fabric could stand for something.

This stance resonates with the ladies (Janelle Abbott & Martha Lucas) of This Then That Studio. This Then That Studio is an Eco and Ethical Fashion line based in Tacoma. I enjoyed catching up with them at Urban Craft Uprising in downtown Seattle.

Over 13.1 million pounds of textiles end up in landfills annually.

Abbott and Lucas are moving to re-purpose such a fabric as a “worn t-shirt.” Their on a mission to salvage waste and transform it into zero-waste hand-made fast fashion.

First, their process begins with the idea of a white worn t-shirt. They cut out the seams and assemble them into various geometric shapes. Shapes are placed on various fabrics, and a new creation is born. Once the garments have exceeded their use, they can be deconstructed and turned into a t-shirt again.

The beauty of the “This Then That Studio” is magical. Giving a purpose to possibly a piece of discarded ‘trash and turned into a working piece of ‘art. Their movement is renewable, sustainable, hand-made, and a zero-waste piece of clothing.