| not-for-profit fashion brand | upcycling revolution |
Trashion Factory is a community interest company and our aim is to spread upcycling and sewing skills. We do custom embroidery and remake clothes as well as giving workshops for women from our local area.
From September until November this group of lovely women from Waltham Forest met up every Tuesday morning and learnt how to design and embroider T-Shirts. Every tee has got a story. Read up on all the tees below. The community then voted for their favourite t-shirt and the most voted for designs were: Noor's Connected to Culture, Clare's Peace comes Easy and Priscilla's Love.
These three will be converted to an industrial embroidery design and we will make them to order. The t-shirts will be available to buy on our website and the women will be trained on the embroidery machine and produce your orders. Release is around fashion week in February. 2022.
This project is part founded by the Foundation For Future London with the Westfield East Bank Creative Futures Fund.
Priscilla
I am a social person, love talking and singing, but also making stuff. When I was a young girl one of my friends did a lot of sewing and embroidery, she inspired me. I am creative and happy person, studied to be a florist, done make-up, but now I am going back to embroidery and I love it.
I chose the word love, because it is what we need most in the world. Everything we do, we should do with love and more than that it is a command from god. I started with one t-shirt for my son and in the end I made six t-shirts. All for my family. I am happy to bless them and proud of myself as well.
Noor
I am a 22 year old Bangladeshi and grew up in London. I am studying computer science but have a passion for style and fashion. I am exploring ways to get involved in sewing and embroidery.
I am a 3rd generation Bangladeshi and I feel like I am not as connected to my culture as my other Bangla peers are. My design is a patchwork of designs I have seen and love to bring it all together to celebrate my heritage and it's how much it means to me stay connected to it.
Mary
Born in an ambulance on the way to Thorpe Coombe, a charmed life full of events leading to a connected life.
Spent time embroidering the word JOY to then discover it was back to front, I then chose a simple design that could be read either way. ME (Reverse anyway)
Cellina
The pandemic gave me an outlet to tap into my dormant creative interests, which lead me here, joining the embroidery course.
I chose to focus a motive as a metaphor to emphasise how the pandemic and wearing a mask hid our identity.
Our moth is an important vessel of our face, and unmasked reveals a beautiful feature reconnecting with humanity.
Claire
As a child the plants were my friends. Just like people plants have many stories to tell and wisdom to share. This wisdom has helped me find my path in life and to this day plants remain good friends.
The plants and us we are all one.
Nettles are often only thought of because of their sting. They are actually full of minerals and can fill us with their vitality. Just as menstrual blood can bee seen as unclean, it is also vital and life giving. From the roots to the stars, we are all full of life. This is the wisdom of the nettle nectar.
Clare
I love and studied everything to do with art and design, as well as making and building from a very young age. Embroidery is a new dimension. It is so creative and something I will carry on.
I embroidered the word warm, because it makes you happy from the inside and outside. You think of the sun, sunshine, blue sky. Flowers. Being outside.
About the peace tee: we need inner peace, we need peace of mind, we need peace in the world. It's simple but hard to come by.
Talula
I love textiles, I have enjoyed making things ever since I was a little girl and never thought I would still be sewing now. Maybe I thought I would be a doctor, nurse or so busy with life that I wouldn't have time to sew anything. It turns out I plan my life around my sewing projects.
I embroidered 8 t-shirts for this project. They are all inspired by my own life lessons and mainly feminism. Badass birdie and pinkie are birds who need no man calling them that. A good life is one with loads of veg in it, I will forever be a veggie, nourishment is so important in so many ways and then of course love is too, especially self-love..
And hey I love ice lollies, cool that.
A huge thank you to Orian, Sarah, Michelle, and Mrs. B for joining the workshops and enriching all the sessions you have been part of, it wouldn't have been the same without you. You inspired all of the tees!
