can trash become treasure?
By Caitlin Calfo
“Design is more than just drawing and making, but an understanding of 'how' and 'why' and what we can do to change the future.” - Nicole McLaughlin
The average American throws away about 80 pounds of clothing every year. Moreover, the spurt of industry "microtrends" — trends that rise quickly, crash and burn (sometimes within a single season) — contributes to an accelerating fashion cycle, overindulgence and piling waste. Today, an average clothing item's lifespan lasts only seven to ten years before leaving the closet for good. And despite the urgent push to buy secondhand, 87% of textiles become landfill, making fashion one of the most polluting industries in the world.
28-year-old Nicole McLaughlin is an expert upcycler, social media influencer and conceptual designer pioneering a fashion-focused movement that combats throwaway culture by embodying it.
"I didn't even really know the term upcycling," explained McLaughlin in a 2021 interview with Complex News. "I knew I wanted to take something that already existed as a shape and try to transform it. It seemed less scary to me, to do that, than to take a brand new piece of fabric and construct something out of that. So I started doing that."
McLaughlin's experiments with stained fabrics, out-of-season garments from her closet or even grocery bags and food scraps catapulted her to social media fame after she began to post her creations on Instagram. She considers "anything" an open door for a new project but tends to focus on designing garments and products with a purpose. As a result, the majority of McLaughlin's D-I-Y design process is the thought behind the items. Typically, the actual construction of pieces takes about four to six hours.
She's created a series dubbed "functional jewelry" by turning Sharpie pens, floss and hand sanitizer into dangly earrings. She's fashioned soccer balls and scraps of Carhartt hats into slippers, transformed lunch boxes into shorts, and even made bras from empty juice box cartons and croissants, or "brassants", all of which she shares with her herd of nearly 800,000 Instagram followers.
McLaughlin was raised in Verona, New Jersey by creative parents who focused on functional design. Growing up, her father was a carpenter and her mother worked as an interior designer. McLaughlin says that she started toying with the idea of becoming a designer in high school after learning sign language to communicate with her boyfriend at the time, who is deaf. She found beauty in sign language, the fundamentals of which, she says, permeate design.
“Sign language has actually helped me communicate things that don’t necessarily need to be said out loud. We don’t have to speak the same language for you to understand what I’m thinking or trying to convey,” McLaughlin told VICE. “I want you to be able to see a piece and immediately feel something and kind of recognize where it comes from, know that it's not in its normal space, but still be able to understand and translate that.”
After graduating from East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor's degree in digital media, McLaughlin worked as a graphic designer for Reebok but grappled with the foundations of the fashion industry.
"I felt inherently guilty about working in an industry that wastes all this stuff, so I tried to use it."
Once her Instagram posts caught the attention of coworkers at Reebok, McLaughlin decided to take a leap of faith in 2019 by trading in the corporate world for one where work and play coexist: where compost turns chic and shoe scraps become shirts. She calls this arm of design an "ever-evolving exploration" around sustainability. Nothing's off the table.
Hip-hop moguls like Kanye West, A$AP Rocky, Travis Scott, J Balvin and DJ Snake want in on McLaughlin's creativity, be it custom clothing or styling expertise for music videos. Other notable projects include collaborations with brands like Prada, FILA, PUMA and Opening Ceremony. Not to mention, her love for rock climbing and the outdoors perfectly aligns with her work as the first-ever Arc'teryx brand ambassador. This April, McLaughlin collaborated with Gucci to reinterpret the brand's iconic Diana bag, a classic design attributed to Princess Diana of Wales and known for its timeless silhouette and curvy bamboo handles. McLaughlin worked with Italian fashion designer Alessandro Michele to reimagine the staple in her personal/unique style by using deconstructed volleyballs for the bag's exterior.
But McLaughlin stresses that anyone can practice upcycling from their closets, even if using small clothing scraps or cropping a t-shirt to give the material a new life.
"If you have a crazy, wild idea, try to make it. You don't always have to have all the tools and the machines and the knowledge to make something great," McLaughlin advises, acknowledging that the practice of upcycling doesn't need to be extreme. Instead, aspiring designers and ordinary consumers alike can start small, spark conversations about design and join in on the sustainability movement within the fashion industry.
Establishing a community within the fashion industry and amongst those interested in sustainability and experimental fashion is a cornerstone of McLaughlin's career. She hosts online workshops where people across the globe can understand the importance of upcycling and educate themselves on the harm within the industry. Going forward, McLaughlin hopes to change the perception of waste and inspire accessible, conceptual and sustainable fashion.
To do so, McLaughlin is developing a non-profit design organization dedicated to providing the next generation of artists, designers, stylists and learners with the resources to create their own projects — big or small. In addition, she hopes to connect these communities with larger companies, especially brands with deadstock and overstock fabrics to design programs at schools and universities, and, eventually, host a fashion program centered around design and sustainability.
Despite the perks of McLaughlin’s work, online comments take issue with the premise of her designs and the ‘why’ behind them. But to the critics and the confused that ask why McLaughlin does what she does, she offers a counterargument: Why not?
The average American throws away about 80 pounds of clothing every year. Moreover, the spurt of industry "microtrends" — trends that rise quickly, crash and burn (sometimes within a single season) — contributes to an accelerating fashion cycle, overindulgence and piling waste. Today, an average clothing item's lifespan lasts only seven to ten years before leaving the closet for good. And despite the urgent push to buy secondhand, 87% of textiles become landfill, making fashion one of the most polluting industries in the world.
28-year-old Nicole McLaughlin is an expert upcycler, social media influencer and conceptual designer pioneering a fashion-focused movement that combats throwaway culture by embodying it.
"I didn't even really know the term upcycling," explained McLaughlin in a 2021 interview with Complex News. "I knew I wanted to take something that already existed as a shape and try to transform it. It seemed less scary to me, to do that, than to take a brand new piece of fabric and construct something out of that. So I started doing that."
McLaughlin's experiments with stained fabrics, out-of-season garments from her closet or even grocery bags and food scraps catapulted her to social media fame after she began to post her creations on Instagram. She considers "anything" an open door for a new project but tends to focus on designing garments and products with a purpose. As a result, the majority of McLaughlin's D-I-Y design process is the thought behind the items. Typically, the actual construction of pieces takes about four to six hours.
She's created a series dubbed "functional jewelry" by turning Sharpie pens, floss and hand sanitizer into dangly earrings. She's fashioned soccer balls and scraps of Carhartt hats into slippers, transformed lunch boxes into shorts, and even made bras from empty juice box cartons and croissants, or "brassants", all of which she shares with her herd of nearly 800,000 Instagram followers.
McLaughlin was raised in Verona, New Jersey by creative parents who focused on functional design. Growing up, her father was a carpenter and her mother worked as an interior designer. McLaughlin says that she started toying with the idea of becoming a designer in high school after learning sign language to communicate with her boyfriend at the time, who is deaf. She found beauty in sign language, the fundamentals of which, she says, permeate design.
“Sign language has actually helped me communicate things that don’t necessarily need to be said out loud. We don’t have to speak the same language for you to understand what I’m thinking or trying to convey,” McLaughlin told VICE. “I want you to be able to see a piece and immediately feel something and kind of recognize where it comes from, know that it's not in its normal space, but still be able to understand and translate that.”
After graduating from East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor's degree in digital media, McLaughlin worked as a graphic designer for Reebok but grappled with the foundations of the fashion industry.
"I felt inherently guilty about working in an industry that wastes all this stuff, so I tried to use it."
Once her Instagram posts caught the attention of coworkers at Reebok, McLaughlin decided to take a leap of faith in 2019 by trading in the corporate world for one where work and play coexist: where compost turns chic and shoe scraps become shirts. She calls this arm of design an "ever-evolving exploration" around sustainability. Nothing's off the table.
Hip-hop moguls like Kanye West, A$AP Rocky, Travis Scott, J Balvin and DJ Snake want in on McLaughlin's creativity, be it custom clothing or styling expertise for music videos. Other notable projects include collaborations with brands like Prada, FILA, PUMA and Opening Ceremony. Not to mention, her love for rock climbing and the outdoors perfectly aligns with her work as the first-ever Arc'teryx brand ambassador. This April, McLaughlin collaborated with Gucci to reinterpret the brand's iconic Diana bag, a classic design attributed to Princess Diana of Wales and known for its timeless silhouette and curvy bamboo handles. McLaughlin worked with Italian fashion designer Alessandro Michele to reimagine the staple in her personal/unique style by using deconstructed volleyballs for the bag's exterior.
But McLaughlin stresses that anyone can practice upcycling from their closets, even if using small clothing scraps or cropping a t-shirt to give the material a new life.
"If you have a crazy, wild idea, try to make it. You don't always have to have all the tools and the machines and the knowledge to make something great," McLaughlin advises, acknowledging that the practice of upcycling doesn't need to be extreme. Instead, aspiring designers and ordinary consumers alike can start small, spark conversations about design and join in on the sustainability movement within the fashion industry.
Establishing a community within the fashion industry and amongst those interested in sustainability and experimental fashion is a cornerstone of McLaughlin's career. She hosts online workshops where people across the globe can understand the importance of upcycling and educate themselves on the harm within the industry. Going forward, McLaughlin hopes to change the perception of waste and inspire accessible, conceptual and sustainable fashion.
To do so, McLaughlin is developing a non-profit design organization dedicated to providing the next generation of artists, designers, stylists and learners with the resources to create their own projects — big or small. In addition, she hopes to connect these communities with larger companies, especially brands with deadstock and overstock fabrics to design programs at schools and universities, and, eventually, host a fashion program centered around design and sustainability.
Despite the perks of McLaughlin’s work, online comments take issue with the premise of her designs and the ‘why’ behind them. But to the critics and the confused that ask why McLaughlin does what she does, she offers a counterargument: Why not?