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How a local Facebook group became a global network for clothing upcycling

by | Mar 28, 2023

Healing the fashion system, and our relationships with clothing, is often rooted in a strong sense of community. For many, Facebook groups are an accessible way to seek out like-minded slow living enthusiasts. The Up-Cycled Cloth Collective is a good example.

Melanie Brummer, who is based in De Rust, South Africa, started the Facebook group in 2017. Now, with 108 000 members (and counting), the Up-Cycled Cloth Collective has grown into a large international group with half of its members from the United States, the rest coming from the UK, Australia, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand, India, Nigeria, Ireland and other countries across the globe.

Melanie Brummer - founder of Up-Cycled Cloth Collective

It is a safe, online space where upcyclers – and aspiring upcyclers – can exchange ideas, show off their latest creations, and interact with each other. Their creations range from children’s toys made from fluffy bath robes to renaissance costumes made entirely from thrifted fabrics.

The creations range from children’s toys made from fluffy bath robes to renaissance costumes made entirely from thrifted fabrics

As a teenager, Melanie wore her older sister’s hand-me-downs. Since their personal styles differed, she would embellish the clothes with colourful embroidery. While this childhood memory sticks with her, Melanie believes her upcycling journey only truly began when she started the Facebook group.

In 2016, she was gifted a massive stash of fabric left that had belonged to her partner’s mom who had passed away a few years prior. “I looked at it and wondered… What is the most I could make of this?” says Melanie.

Up-Cycled Cloth Collective

With this objective in mind, she decided to co-create a project by printing fabric with hand-carved line designs and sending it to collaborators across the globe who transformed the fabric into finished items. She wanted to demonstrate the beauty and innovation of collaborative upcycling. The Facebook group, Up-Cycled Cloth Collective, was created to keep in touch with collaborators.

At the time, many of the textile groups on Facebook were run by people who had a very specific way of shaping their content and many didn’t allow self-promotion. “I found that most of the textile groups on Facebook would not allow me to speak about my project, so I created my own group where I could control the narrative, and shape the content around my own needs and the needs of the active members,” says Melanie.

She wanted to demonstrate the beauty and innovation of collaborative upcycling

Unfortunately, due to unforeseen logistics and a lack of funds, the project came to a halt. “My project was of diminishing returns. After nine months of printing fabric and sending it overseas at my personal cost, I gave up on it completely.”

Up-Cycled Cloth Collective

But, by then, the group was growing on its own and had expanded way beyond Melanie’s project. “I had found a topic that people wanted to talk about and because makers could sell their up-cycled textile products in our group, they streamed in,” she says.

Last year, the group went viral when one of the members posted about a handbag made from an old pair of cowboy boots. The post was shared over 43 000 times. Melanie hopes that the group will spark conversations about textile reuse practices and shift consumer behaviour towards an ethos of “fewer, better things”.

The group went viral when one of the members posted about a handbag made from an old pair of cowboy boots. The post was shared over 43 000 times

Up-Cycled Cloth Collective

Melanie hopes that the educational exchanges teach people how to scrutinise “green” claims made by brands so that they can make more informed and ethical choices about where to spend their money. “This is how we begin to change the world,” says Melanie. With every interaction in the group, she is reminded of the power of community in shifting practices and changing systems.

Her advice to aspiring upcyclers is to start where you can. “I still feel like a beginner and every day I see small spaces for improvement. I tend to begin with the resources I have or with what needs an upcycling solution, and then I ask myself ‘What could I make with this? What would it likely become?’”

If you can’t answer that question yourself, hang out in the Up-Cycled Cloth Collective Facebook group – where a welcoming community of up-cyclers is only a click away.

 

  • Images: Photos supplied by Melanie Brummer
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