We all have an old favourite – that item of clothing we have worn until it falls apart. Mine is a silk dress from Plumo, which split down the front…. never to be worn again, yet too full of memories to be thrown away. Besides the sentimentality, who wants to contribute to yet more landfill? What to do?
Enter the amazing Sophie Cummings – mum to Luna (3) and a baby boy due in March this year – and her shapeshifting upcycle service. She turns your old clothes into new clothes for your children. All the beautiful fabric, all the memories… living on, worn by the next generation. Is it not the most ingenious idea? Even better: 10% of every Upcycle order is donated to Labour behind the Label; a movement campaigning to improve working conditions and empower workers in the global garment industry. Yet another nail in the coffin of fast fashion and mindless consumption.
TELL ME MORE ABOUT THIS SHAPESHIFTER
Sophie started her company, Sophie & Co, in the summer of 2015. She’d grown disillusioned with the corporate world, feeling that there was limited scope to explore her creativity, coupled with the fact that she received a flat ‘no’ to her request for flexible hours after the birth of Luna. Instead of returning to her office job, she turned a stash of fabrics – some African clothing from a friend who had lived in Mozambique and a few metres of new threads bought with Statutory Pay – into harems & bloomers and posted them on Instagram. The response was so positive that she ran with it and didn’t look back.
Fast forward 2.5 years and she still has only a small range of half a dozen carefully curated products, which she designs, makes and posts herself. Her range is comprised of clothes that take children through all four seasons; pieces that can be layered or worn alone, handed down to siblings and are ‘stylishly practical’. The opposite of fast fashion.
Despite the success of her business, she still felt she could do more. In a moment of ‘severe nesting’ ahead of the birth of her second baby, and having just read Fumio Sasaki’s ‘Goodbye, Things: The new Japanese Minimalism’, she pulled out all the neglected items in her wardrobe and transformed them into clothes for her daughter and unborn baby. The lightbulb moment arrived when she realised she could provide this as a service for everyone, not just herself.
WHAT CAN SHE DO FOR YOU?
She’ll turn your old clothes, your partner’s old clothes, some old fabric, whatever material you deem appropriate into Sophie & Co products for a fraction of their usual retail price. Sustainable, accessible and inexpensive. Cherry on the cake: helping to support a young, wonderful family who really care about creating a better future, not only for themselves, but for the planet. Beautiful clothes created with a conscience… what’s not to love?
So go on – walk to your wardrobe, pull out 5 items of clothing, send them to Sophie, save the planet, save your bank balance, prepare to fall in love with your post.
Get in touch with her now to start the process.
You can also follow Sophie on Instagram.
Manifesto Woman 