‘Think Act Vote encourages people to engage, to think about what it is they want from politics. It’s a vital first step to making it happen.’ – Lyla Patel, Head of education, TRAID Remade

TRAID says ‘you can’t take part if you don’t take part

‘TRAIDremade refashions the future into one that is populated by people, not consumers.  A future where people are interested in how our clothes be so cheap, a future where people think about the conditions in which our clothes and other products are made.  How much are workers getting paid?  Can they afford to eat?  Is there a toilet?  Can their kids afford to go to school?  In this future, TRAID don’t just offer an ethical alternative to the clothes industry, we are the clothes industry!’ – TRAID

The designer - Paula Kirkwood

TRAIDremade specialises in turning damaged textiles, vintage and clothing destined for landfill into gorgeous clothes and accessories.  Set up in 2002 by fashion recycling charity TRAID, the label was conceived as a way to create beautiful clothing from waste and offers people who love fashion but hate its impact an alternative and sustainable way to buy clothes.  As well as sporting an extremely small fashion footprint, all the proceeds raised are used by TRAID to support projects fighting global poverty.  www.traid.org.uk / www.traidremade.com

Show Piece Created by Traid Remade for Think Act Vote; Photography by Dominic Clarke; Ethically Styled by Io Takemura; Dress by Traid Remade; Leggings by Ivana Helsinki; Shoes by Terra Plana

‘I started the design process in exactly the same way that I would with our in house pieces:  looking at current trends and then choosing which fabrics and clothes to rework that have been collected for me by the TRAID team.  All the textiles TRAIDremade work with are donated by the public to TRAID but can’t be resold in our much loved charity shops due to faults or damage.’

For this particular design, I created an asymmetric look and combined it with stretch jersey.  The jersey was taken from five shop soiled sweaters.  I took apart each one and then re-stitched the panels together to create a piece of fabric to cut a pattern from.   Finally, the front panel of the dress was created by incorporating the ‘THINK, ACT, VOTE’ Tee.’ – Paula Kirkwood

Think Act Vote Photobooth at The Rag Factory - Ethical Just Got Fabulous, Photography by Deepti V. Patel

Photography by Pip Dudrah, Photos taken at The Rag Factory

Photography by Pip Dudrah, Photos taken at The Rag Factory

The CAMP London, Photography by Vanya Sacha - www.vanyasacha.com

The Alternative Fashion Week at Spitalfields, Photography by Poulomi Basu

‘The future I choose is one where people feel inspired and able to create a more sustainable world.’ – Lyla Patel

Tell us What Future Do You Choose and get a chance to feature in our book!

TRAID Remade shows us how to customise a t-shirt into a cool and original top using some old zips!