Upcycling, Sustainable or just a Trend?

Upcycling, the fashionable version of recycling. 

A few years ago most people wouldn't be seen dead in a charity shop or walking around in something someone else had worn. 

"I don't know where its been" 

"It's going to be dirty!" 

"I don't want to be seen in there!". 

Charity shops were barely surviving and everything we wore was brand new and worn only by us. 

How times have changed. 

Now everthings about upcycling. Now the growing trend is to buy everything from a t shirt to a kitchen table second hand and upcycle it into an amazing new item that has a new lease of life. 

There are many designers and creators out there who make some fantastic things out of unwanted items. The popular show 'The Apprentice' even featured upcycling and the potential for money to be made out of this. 

The question though is, will this trend continue or is it mearly a product of the current economy? 

People don't have alot of money and generally speaking there is alot to be said to spend a little less on something upcycled which in some circumstances are better than the original product. It can be quite rewarding to do it yourself and create your own upcycled masterpiece out of something you find in the back of your attic or your garage. 

There's a sense of accomplishment from turning a broken old chair into something that compliments your living room or making a new jacket out of various old clothes. 

There's certainly alot out there in the big wide world of the internet telling you how to create these things and it generally doesn't have to cost much to do it either. 

But if the economy was in a better state would we still be upcycling or would we be back to wanting the best products straight out of the packet? 

Are just making ourselves feel better about all the years we thought recycling was for hippies? Maybe we are, maybe we just want to feel like we're doing the right thing by upcycling and making the most of whats laying around. 

I've discussed the pricing issue previously but it also creeps into the upcycling point as well. Walk through any major city centre and see how many shops you see selling upcycled goods. Then take a look at the prices they are charging. 

It certainly appears to be that there is a big difference between the homemade upcycled goods and the goods coming out of highstreet stores. 

The highstreet shops certainly do sell some nice things but do they warrant the prices they charge for what are essentially secondhand products. Some of these prices being charged are more that you can buy the original item for when it came straight out of the factory. 

The items made by the couple down the road in their living room may not be the most obvious place to buy your upcycled products from but its worth considering that the care and attention is is generally going to be of a far higher standard. The price (if they are pitching it right) will also be highly competitive compared to the highstreet shops offering 100 of the same unique item. 

The point of the article is to put across two points. Firstly, we should do everything we can to keep the trend of upcycling moving forward in the mainstream. It not only serves a great purpose environmentally, but it is also opens up a door to those people that don't have the skills to build chairs and tables for example, but do have the imagination to turn them into something visual compelling and interesting for little to nothing. 


The second point is that this is the time for the small businesses out there to step up and challenge the bigger stores on upcycling products. Whilst its still seen as just another trend to pump out at high prices, the smaller businesses can keep their prices in line with their lower costs and promote their products to the masses by being true to upcycling and making unique items that stand out amongst the crowd. 


Thanks for reading.


Jacquib
www.jacquib.biz