“BUY LESS. CHOOSE WELL. MAKE IT LAST.”
Vivienne Westwood
Wasteless-Kiwi considers that design is the key to providing a gorgeous product that can stand the tests of time. We align with Vivienne Westwood’s longtime mantra: we start with ‘choosing well’ and then we design to ‘make it last’. Our team methodology starts with elevating the worth of the textile: viewing each textile as a finished product, appreciating and valuing the extensive inputs of human and environmental effort throughout the textile supply chain. We believe that good design will outlast fast changing trends, so we determine which combination of our many sustainable approaches and best practice methods will provide the best endurance for a particular design.
Tradition & Quality
Wasteless-Kiwi values the thinking behind tradition. We acknowledge all processes (time, labour and material) implemented during the development of a textile product/garment with respect. We elect quality over quantity and we employ construction techniques that promote longevity. Particular care is taken so that our garments are as beautiful on the inside as they are on the outside. Wherever possible we choose bagged-out facings or bound edges of functional openings, we bind the seams of suiting fabrics and we use French seams to enclose the delicate raw edges of more loosely woven, fluid fabrics, like georgette. While the old-fashioned techniques take longer than the mass production technique of overlocking, we prefer its minimal look and strength, even better the humble French seam is 3 times less wasteful than overlocking. With this level of finish sometimes the only way to know the right way out is to locate the label. Heritage is another important factor contributing to the endurance of a garment/textile product: when a garment denotes or becomes part of our heritage, we are more likely to pass it on as an heirloom and unlikely to discard it. Similarly, we tend to have more connection to items that have been custom-made or personalized for us and thus, they are more likely to last the tests of time.
Multi-style
Wasteless-Kiwi designs are embedded with a ‘what if’ playful approach to design where experimentation during the design process is valued and one of the main drivers. As experts in our field we are comfortable ‘breaking the rules’ and enjoy the surprise and additional functionality that evolve during this approach. In this manner we continually develop multi-styling opportunities for our items with increased versatility. This say, enables a garment prototype to be worn in more than one way, which potentially extends its usable wearable life. Likewise, adding a pocket to a tote bag, not only creates a convenient keep safe pocket for valuables – the versatile compartment provides for quick transformation into a mini storage bag, making it easier to keep handy and extending its useful life.
Wear and tear damage is a natural and inevitable expectation, particularly concerning textile items. Everyday washing of clothing items creates an environment of friction and leads to deterioration through change or loss of the fibres on the surface of the textile. Wasteless-Kiwi garments are designed for wearing in a way that reduces the need for laundering and therefore extends the usable wearable life of each item.
Future Proof & Reuse
In our multi-pronged approach to enduring design, we make it to last beyond the first wearer, by carefully considering all future possible reuse of the textile at the outset. We design classic styles that are fluid and size inclusive, enabling the garment to fit across a range of body shapes. This both enables the garment to accommodate future fluctuations in the wearer’s size and possible reuse by multiple wearers in the future.
Component Reuse & Design for Reuse
Another approach that allows the textile to last beyond the first wearer, is to upcycle i.e. reuse the textile within a new second-life style. Nevertheless, the upcycle process comes with some limitations: second-life styles are totally reliant and restricted by the diminishing size of the sewn panels within the first-life garment. Wasteless-Kiwi anticipates this future constraint through strategically rationalizing the pattern/panel shape of any garment style that will be cut from virgin textile. Specifically, shapes are engineered to retain panels at the largest possible size. Therefore, as much of the original textile area as possible, is preserved intact, and thus providing the largest possible size second-life fabric to allow for reuse of the textile in the future.
Wasteless-Kiwi values the thinking behind tradition, reviving and employing long-lasting construction techniques and enduring future proof strategies to ensure textile products that will last the tests of time.