Upcycling of pre and post apparel waste
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Date
2021-01
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
CCSHAU, Hisar
Abstract
The present research was conducted in Hisar city of Haryana state to design and develop a variety of
textile products by utilizing pre and post apparel waste in different combinations. Fifty women were selected
purposively from different areas of Hisar city to collect information regarding existing upcycling practices for pre
and post apparel waste. The pre and post apparel waste was collected from boutique owners, tailors and known
shopkeepers. Top ranked designs of six selected articles from each articles i.e. apparel and accessories, home
furnishing & accessories and utility articles were selected and developed by the researcher using pre and post
apparel waste. Hence, a total of 18 upcyled articles were developed. Cost of the developed upcycled articles was
calculated on the basis of the cost of raw material used and labour charges. The cost of pre and post apparel waste
was not calculated and added as these were collected free of cost The selling price of developed upcycled article
was calculated by adding 10 percent profit to the cost price of each developed upcycled article.
All the women were stitching female garments and majority of them were also engaged in alterations and
repairs of garments. All the respondents possessed pre-apparel waste in the form of fabric scrapes and post-apparel
waste in the form of rejected and damaged garments. They upcycled pre- apparel waste for repair and alteration of
garments while gave away the post apparel waste i.e. discarded and damaged garments to servants, relatives,
friends and charity. Major problem faced by respondents in upcycling of pre and post apparel waste was lack of
knowledge regarding construction, embellishment and designing techniques while the least preferred problem was
financial constraints Stitching as construction and designing technique and trimmings as embellishment technique
were the commonly techniques used to construct, design and embellish various upcycled articles. Long kurti,
children‟s dress, skirt, female shirt, gloves, and two piece dress as apparel and accessories, bed side runner,
curtain, wall panel, door mat, bed sheet and designer pillow as home furnishing & accessories and bag organizer,
hand bag, shoes organizer, multipurpose basket, clutch and wall pocket as utility articles were selected upcycled
articles, developed in their top ranked designs by the researcher using pre and post apparel waste along with
collected trimmings and fasteners. Hence, a total of 18 upcyled articles were developed which included six
upcycled articles developed by using only post apparel waste, six by combination of pre and post apparel waste
and remaining six upcycled articles were developed by post apparel waste with new textile material. The cost of all
the upcycled home furnishing and accessories was maximum ranging from ` 145-648 followed by the cost of
upcycled apparel and accessories i.e. ` 157-328. The cost of upcycled utility articles was minimum ranging from `
69-271. All the developed upcycled articles were assessed highly acceptable by the consumers in terms of
workmanship and utility. In terms of overall appearance, female shirt, curtain and wall pocket got Ist rank as
apparel, home furnishing and utility article respectively. The cost of upcycled articles was considered „appropriate‟
by majority of consumers. Consumers had high opinion about all the upcycled articles and expert had high opinion
regarding upcycling of pre and post apparel waste. After training the trainees acquired sufficient knowledge
regarding various aspects of upcycling which was recorded statistically significance at 1 percent level of
significance. Thus, pre and post apparel waste was upcycled efficiently in different combinations to produce a
wide range of textile products by using various upcycling techniques as per apparel waste and upcycled articles.