According to Wikipedia - “ Upcycling, also known as creative reuse, is the process of transforming by-products, waste materials, useless, or unwanted products into new materials or products perceived to be of greater quality, such as artistic value or environmental value.”

In the UK we currently only recycle 15% of our textile waste with garments often only worn once or twice before being discarded. Fast fashion and social media fuel a desire for the next new thing, resulting in over production and textiles consigned to waste.

Clothing is a great way to display our characters and individual taste, making us feel good as we present ourselves to the world. It can be practical or frivolous, funky or functional, an expression of how we feel or a way to conceal ourselves and protect us from the elements, but none of that should come with the heavy cost of environmental damage. 

Gail Power’s upcycled garments are created in reaction to our wasteful consumption, to illustrate that with imagination we can turn our textile trash into tailored treasures.