Environmentalism is in fashion – more and more famous brands are marketing recycled clothing. This saves natural resources and offers new opportunities for creativity.
Designer and environmentalist Renara Shamsiyeva is trying to make recycled clothes fashionable in Azerbaijan. Renara takes old clothes and materials from her friends and textile producers and sews new clothes. And she has convincingly proven that they can be fashionable.
In Renara’s collection there is a lot of denim, because denim manufacturing is particularly harmful for the environment. “Around the world every year over two million pairs of jeans are produced, and on that alone over four thousand liters of water is required,” Renara says.
Like any other designer, Renara shares photos and sketches of the clothes she produces on social media, and tells her followers about the latest trends in the world of fashion. She also talks about how clothing is manufactured and the harm that this can cause for the environment.
She patiently explains to her subscribers the advantages of recycling clothes – instead of rotting in a dump, taking up space and
poisoning
the air and soil, old clothes can find new uses. It is relatively inexpensive to make new clothes out of old, because unlike the manufacture of new clothes, you do not need huge amounts of water, electricity, or dyes.
Demand for Renara’s clothes has grown substantially in the past year. “At first I sewed mostly for young people, but now my customers are people of all ages who like to dress with style and who care about environmental issues,” the designer says.
There will never be two identical items in Renara’s collection, simply because the raw materials that she uses are unique every time.
“Of course it’s not easy when your design depends entirely on what material you have, but that’s exactly what interests me,” Renara says.
