“Buy less, choose well, make it last.”
- Vivienne Westwood -
WHAT IS UPCYCLING?
From the very beginning, Secondland has been committed to upcycling—the process of creatively reusing materials that are considered waste in a way that adds value. This method gives us the opportunity to avoid the overproduction and material accumulation that has been the characteristic of the fashion industry, as well as reimagining consumer waste in a new and innovative way.
OUR METHOD
At Secondland, we treat upcycling as a ritual that requires a lot of love, care and time.
Our materials are mainly hand picked vintage and secondhand pieces and household textiles. We pay great attention to only use natural, high quality fibers, and garments that are in perfect condition. We also utilize additional deadstock fabric—industrial waste from other businesses.
However, often, it’s in our own heritage where real treasures are hidden. Vintage pieces found in our grandmas’ wardrobes are usually better quality than the short-lifespan clothes of fast fashion brands while also holding great sentimental value to us. We believe that timeless value can only start with the best of quality.
In order to avoid overstocking, we only keep as much fabric in our inventory as we need.
Taditional embellishment techniques such as embroidery and beading are dear to our hearts and we also like to reimagine materials in a unique way, like using natural gemstones as buttons or hand-painting leather details. Our signature flower-patterned lining is made from deadstock fabric with an eco-friendly printing process. To make sure that each of our pieces are made in the spirit of upcycling, our care labels are also made from deadstock fabric using eco-friendly paint and textile printer.
Our products are handmade ethically in Hungary with locally sourced fabrics. Our partners are independent professional dry-cleaners, tailors and seamstresses who determine their own wage and working hours. The final touches of hand-sewn embellishments are added in our studio in Budapest.
HOW ARE THEY MADE?
The Mara Shirt
The MARA shirt is one of Secondland’s most iconic pieces. We design each shirt individually: the selection of materials and natural gemstones is always a long and unique process. Designing and creating a Mara shirt requires the work of three people and takes a total of fifteen hours.
Various materials are used for our MARA shirt. The front and the back is made of two cotton
men’s shirt while the puff sleeves are created from vintage household textiles such as bed sheets. The process of upcycling looks as follows:
- design process
- sorting materials
- preparing the fabrics: cleaning, disassembling
- tailoring and sewing
- hand-sewing the gemstone buttons
The Beaded Blazer
The Beaded Blazer is our most finely decorated piece, therefore it also takes the longest to
make. The beaded flowers evoke the small purple flowers of our logo. A high-quality vintage men's jacket is upcycled to create this unique garment. The lining is our signature flower-patterned deadstock fabric printed in an environmentally-friendly way.
Creating the Beaded blazer requires the work of four people and takes a total of twenty hours.
The upcycling process looks as follows:
- design process
- sorting materials
- preparing the fabric: cleaning, disassembling
- tailoring
- hand beading of detailed flower decorations
- printing the flowers on the deadstock lining
- relining the blazer, placing labels