Upcycling: Let’s Give Your Objects and Clothes a Second Life!

Upcycling: How to transform waste into high-quality products?

With upcycling, it's possible to transform waste into high-quality products. This practice can work wonders, and today, it's as appealing for its benefits as for the trends surrounding it. In this article, let's discover together how creatives and specialists can draw inspiration from this practice to create innovative, environmentally friendly, and more efficient products!

Upcycling is one of the actions taken to improve a product's carbon footprint .

What is upcycling?

Upcycling is the practice of transforming used objects into higher-quality products. The term "upcycling" was coined in 1994 by Reiner Pilz, a German designer interested in environmental protection and the reuse of materials. Material recycling, or upcycling, is one of the most widely used techniques in the field of upcycling: it involves giving an end-of-life item a second life using recycled materials.

Upcycling is a duality between an innovative concept and a sustainable practice that originated in the 1960s. Today, this practice has become a new way of life. Multiple manufacturers, brands, and designers are dedicated to this practice to produce one-of-a-kind products and share creative ideas and innovative designs with consumers.

What are the benefits of upcycling?

The benefits of this practice are varied: first, it allows for a considerable reduction in the waste sent to landfills each year (3.2 billion tons per year in 2020). Indeed, each time you opt for upcycling rather than recycling or replacement, you contribute to limiting waste and promoting a true circular economy whose impact on the planet is negligible.

Moreover, since it involves the reuse of existing objects, this practice also saves natural and energy resources linked to the extraction and processing of new raw materials (up to 80%), which effectively slows down the acceleration of climate change.

In the leather industry, there are more than 800,000 tons of leather waste per year, most of which is landfilled! It's therefore only natural that some companies have begun to look into upcycling this leather.

In the case of Nodie's, this is what interests us, particularly with a structure like Adapta Paris which contributes to supplying leather goods manufacturers with this upcycled leather.

What trends are surrounding the world of upcycling?

Today, there's a significant trend toward sustainable and eco-friendly products . Companies are racing to create circular products that sustainably reduce the environmental and social impacts associated with traditional manufacturing. Digital technologies also allow those interested in upcycling to increase their productivity and creative abilities through unlimited access to online tutorials.

Who is involved in the upcycling process?

When talking about upcycling, it's important to mention the people involved in the process, including artists, artisans , social entrepreneurs, and specialized businesses. These actors are creators who are committed to giving better quality (and higher value) to used products while practicing a sustainable economic model . In France, there are approximately 2,000 companies whose main activity is upcycling.

Upcycling on TV: an eco-friendly fashion finally getting media coverage.

Several brands have started to break through, and if you watched M6 and the show "Who wants to be my partner" this Wednesday, you may have seen RESAP, a brand that promotes upcycled jeans.

Many fashion brands are starting to embrace upcycling to promote eco-responsible fashion and limit their environmental impact on our planet. RESAP promotes clothing, but in the fashion world, there are now shoe brands that offer upcycled shoes, such as Sessile, or RESAP in the clothing sector.

How can I start upcycling at home?

Are you interested in upcycling and want to practice it at home? A good idea is to look for recyclable raw materials in nature or around your home. You can find used items in second-hand stores or stores selling items intended for reuse. You can also rummage through your closet to find clothes you no longer use and transform them according to your tastes or imagination. We also find a multitude of pieces of fabric from the textile industry in our homes, most of which unfortunately end up as conventional waste.

For example, La Vie Est Belt, an eco-friendly brand, uses old sheets to make underwear, so why not take a look at the old sheets at the bottom of your wardrobe and give them a second life? And what's more, La Vie Est Belt is a brand made in France!

Need ideas and advice? Don't panic! There are a wide range of tutorials and tips that can help you find interesting projects, learn how to work with different tools (sewing, knitting, etc.), and develop your creativity to give a used item a new look.

Regarding leather, on Pinterest or TikTok , Nodie's regularly posts tutorial videos for sewing leather, but also on the Instagram network, where we also share videos or posts concerning these eco-responsible materials in order to promote a circular economy that does not impact the environment.

And what about upcycled leather?

As you know, we use upcycled leather for all our bags and accessories, and the big advantage is that we get luxury leathers at reduced prices and also get quite unique colors since only a few skins will have been used. This leather is a real product that makes sense, and we love these materials whose goal is to offer fashion to consume less but better.

Nodie's is also one of the pioneers in the leather sector thanks to the meeting with Adapta Paris a few years earlier, which is the first company to collect these upcycled leathers which previously became waste. This is also the beginning of a new life for this material, which was previously considered polluting due to the impossibility of recycling it correctly, but here too, the evolution of techniques has changed the situation and given a new opportunity to act sustainably.

For example, Celadon Green leather is available but in limited quantities, so if you want a Celadon Green Isaac bag, you have to be careful because the quantity is extremely limited and it is very likely that in the future we will have difficulty finding it.

Do we reuse leather from sofas or car seats as part of an upcycling approach?

Yes, it's entirely possible, and some companies offer to transform your leather sofas into handbags! We recommend Mutane, who developed this.

So you see it

Is my upcycled leather bag as durable?

Obviously, since we use leathers that should have been thrown away and in our case, we mainly select leathers from LVMH since they bought the red tanneries right next to us, so these leathers have excellent quality and a unique feel.

Finally, their durability is beyond question. So yes, when you buy an upcycled leather bag, you're no more at risk of damage than with a regular bag. There are now plenty of videos on Instagram praising the benefits of upcycled leather.

We therefore advise you to take a look at all our leather goods, including our upcycled leather bags , as well as our belts and other accessories. From just a few euros, you can find what you're looking for in this beautiful fashion made in France.

Conclusion:

Upcycling is a practice that offers considerable benefits to the environment. Through this ethical and eco-responsible approach, we promote zero waste and thus limit the waste of our resources, and thus we take a lasting action on the ecological impact on our beautiful planet, which is in dire need right now.

This allows the transformation of used objects into higher-quality products while significantly reducing waste and reducing the carbon footprint linked to the extraction and processing of new raw materials. If you want to practice this technique at home, it is possible to find tutorials and advice on the Internet, and otherwise we advise you to buy upcycled objects as often as possible to reduce waste and promote sustainable fashion !