The Or Foundation and Vestiaire Collective have joined forces to bring a bold new perspective to sustainable fashion. This partnership highlights the incredible work of Ghanaian designers from the Kantamanto Market, transforming discarded garments into extraordinary upcycled creations that challenge traditional ideas of luxury.
SUSTAINABLE FASHION
In this exclusive conversation for DSCENE Magazine, Editor Anastasija Pavic sits down with Liz Ricketts, co-founder and Executive Director of The Or Foundation, to discuss the vision behind this collaboration, the ethical principles guiding the project, and the global implications of waste colonialism. Ricketts shares the stories of the 12 featured designers, the importance of circular fashion, and how this initiative empowers communities while addressing fashion’s mounting waste crisis.
Explore how this collaboration is reshaping the narrative around sustainability, elevating upcycled design, and paving the way for a justice-led approach to fashion’s future.
How did the partnership between The Or Foundation and Vestiaire Collective come about, and what shared values drive this collaboration? – Vestiaire shares our commitment to championing resale and secondhand, and this upcycled capsule collection brings that commitment to life. We’ve worked with Vestiaire in their fight against fast fashion, including helping to develop the criteria of which garments are allowed on the platform. They’ve also committed to furthering their support for our organization, as we tackle waste colonialism and push for extended producer responsibility policies to hold brands responsible for their role in the fashion’s waste crisis.
The 12 designers behind this capsule collection primarily use secondhand materials sourced from Kantamanto in their work, which we’re hoping serves as a source of inspiration for other designers to do the same while also proving that upcycling is a viable business model.
What ethical considerations were central to the development of this collaboration? – One thing we want to make clear is that this collection is a celebration of the Kantamanto community, a hub for reuse, repair, upcycling, and remanufacturing. Even though we are a not-for-profit, this collaboration is not a charity case. The 12 designers behind this capsule collection primarily use secondhand materials sourced from Kantamanto in their work, which we’re hoping serves as a source of inspiration for other designers to do the same while also proving that upcycling is a viable business model. When it comes to circularity, upcycling and remanufacturing, which is upcycling on an industrial level, receives far less investment and attention compared to reuse and recycling, which is a problem when we lack the recycling infrastructure necessary to process even the most minimal levels of waste generated on an annual basis. We already support Ghanaian upcyclers to sell their products locally but we are spending more time examining the opportunities and barriers to selling their products internationally so this collaboration is part of a larger exploration we are undertaking over the coming year.
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Why was Black Friday chosen as the launch date for this initiative? – 15 million secondhand garments arrive from countries in the Global North to Ghana’s Kantamanto Market every single week, 40% of which go unsold and ultimately leave the market as waste. Simply put, there’s too much clothing in existence, with estimates that between 80-150 billion items of clothing are produced each year.
Each piece in this anti-consumption collection is made of upcycled materials, serving as an alternative to the mass-produced, mindless consumerism and overconsumption associated with Black Friday and the holiday season.
These one-of-a-kind designs are meant to be treasured and defy the fleeting and unsustainable practices of fast fashion.
Can you elaborate on the role of Kantamanto Market in the global fashion ecosystem? – The world’s largest secondhand clothing market, Kantamanto in Accra, Ghana, marks the endpoint of fashion’s overburdened linear economy. We believe that it is possible to acknowledge Kantamanto as a model of circularity, deserving of support and recognition while also acknowledging that the waste leaving Kantamanto serves as a wakeup call for the impact of fast fashion on the entire industry, making visible the waste crisis caused by a business model built on volumes over value. Kantamanto is the most sustainable retail ecosystem in the world yet it is on the front lines of fashion’s waste crisis. We refer to this as Kantamanto’s Two Truths.
15 million items of secondhand clothing pass through the market on a weekly basis from places like the U.S., U.K., E.U., China, and Canada. 30,000 people work in the market ecosystem six days a week to re-commodify secondhand clothing items through resale, repair, and re-manufacture. Despite those efforts 40% of this ultimately goes unsold and leaves the market as waste. Because Ghana lacks sufficient waste management infrastructure, the garment waste enters the environment. Much of it is burned out in the open, washed out to sea, or dumped in informal settlements where some of Accra’s most vulnerable citizens live.
What makes the upcycled garments and accessories created by the Ghanaian designers stand out in the context of luxury fashion? – These one-of-a-kind designs are meant to be treasured and defy the fleeting and unsustainable practices of fast fashion. We want consumers to appreciate and embrace their quality, creativity, innovation, and the meaningful story behind each piece that was crafted into a work of art by a local Ghanaian designer, over purchasing something that was mass produced.
Vestiaire Collective is known for promoting pre-loved luxury. How does this collaboration enhance its mission of fostering conscious consumption? – This past Black Friday, shoppers spent a record $10.8 billion online on Friday, over 10% more than they did last Black Friday, more than double what consumers spent in 2017. That’s not even taking into account all of the early sales, extended sales, Cyber Monday, Cyber Week, and so on. Reports also show that up to 80% of Black Friday purchases end up thrown away, much of which ends up in the Global South in places like Kantamanto Market.
Though Black Friday comes once a year, the culture of overconsumption it perpetuates is a constant force, fueled by brands throughout the year. With enough clothing in circulation to outfit the next six generations, everything you desire is, in theory, already available, which is where this collection in collaboration with Vestiaire Collective comes from.
What methods are being used to evaluate the success of this initiative in raising awareness about sustainable fashion practices beyond sales figures? – We will assess whether or not the designers receive orders or inquiries from people who learned about their work through the collaboration.
What we wanted to do with this collection is to challenge outdated perceptions of what “luxury” truly means and to get people to question their consumption habits.
How do you address concerns from luxury consumers who may hesitate to purchase items made from discarded materials? – Core to disposability culture is the idea that everything we own depreciates the moment we touch it. The fact that few people own clothing that will become more valuable in ten years time is part of the problem and central to the crisis within the global secondhand trade where there is very little of what was once considered “vintage” or “creme”.
To address the concern we need to question and break down the source of where the concern is stemming from, which is exactly what we wanted to do with this collection: to challenge outdated perceptions of what “luxury” truly means and to get people to question their consumption habits. Why has the craft of upcycling and repurposing become devalued in our current culture? Why are we hesitant to purchase something made from discarded materials but maybe not applying that same hesitation to buying from fast fashion brands or questioning what new products we purchase are made from? This is not to discourage people or to shame them, but rather, to encourage more mindful and conscious consumption.
Are there plans to expand the availability of upcycled garments from Kantamanto or similar collaborations in other markets? – Yes, we are paving several pathways for selling upcycled products internationally and locally including working on policy initiatives that will allow upcyclers to access preferential trade agreements. More to come!
Vestiaire collective is somebody to take notes from ❤️