Melbourne-based social enterprise HoMie is planning to scale an upcycling model with Australian textile manufacturer ABMT.
Speaking with Ragtrader, HoMie co-founder and creative director Marcus Crook said he and ABMT have already piloted a production line, upcycling 210 garments in one and a half weeks for HoMie's Reborn label. The 210 items will be sold via the HoMie store from this week.
“We could only produce 30 to 50 garments at a time in our factory in Collingwood when we were upcycling with our small team of three of us,” Crook said. “But now with this factory, we can scale it up to 1,000 garments per week.”
Crook said the plan is to transform ABMT’s Sunshine facility in Melbourne’s west with the new model. This includes bringing other fashion brands on board as the facility grows, with tentative discussions already underway with some fashion brands such as Country Road and Hugo Boss.
According to Crook, brands onboarded can repurpose their waste and create upcycled lines from deadstock.
“We've tested it out, we know that it works,” Crook said. “Currently, it's just working with our stock and some Champion stock at the moment, which we've been upcycling for the past three years now.
“We're just hoping that this gives us the opportunity to really scale it up, and also maintain a really high level of quality that brands can expect from their original products.”
“We could really create a service, not just for Reborn and HoMie, but a circular solution for other brands that might be looking to utilise their deadstock or excess materials.”
Crook said the next step is to market it to the public at Melbourne Fashion Week in October. He said HoMie and ABMT are creating a collection for Melbourne Fashion Week and will use that moment to generate commercial desirability for upcycling.
“There's a serious need for it,” Crook said. “There's so much attention being brought to this issue - not just from the government and these legislations, but from the consumer as well.
“Consumers are demanding us to be better and they're willing to wear their values and buy things that are more environmentally friendly. We feel like there's so much opportunity in this space.”
“There's 100 billion garments made globally every year and we feel like there's an opportunity to reuse those.”
Crook said all the profits from the partnership will go back into HoMie's program and support young people going through our program into work.