blog: upcycling materials

Did you know that to make one cotton t-shirt you need 2700 liters of fresh water? 

…yes, that’s enough drinking water for about 3 years. Or about 50 loads of laundry.

 

KEMKES has a big ambition to change the fashion industry. When you have a big ambition it is important to focus your attention to the elements where you can have the biggest impact. One of these elements is the environmental costs of the current fashion industry. 

The biggest environmental cost comes from the production of new fabrics. That’s why at KEMKES we intend to use as little of new materials as possible. Most of our products are made from used upcycled textiles such as blankets and curtains. In this way we don’t have to rely on newly made fabrics. Instead we give used materials a new life. 

Our choice to use discarded textiles makes for a totally different process. Instead of buying fabric on a roll, we source our materials in our partners' depots for discarded textiles. This comes with its challenges, because you are reliant on the fabrics you can find. Using discarded textiles also means that all products are unique because the materials are unique as well. This can seem like a problem, but at KEMKES we see this as our strength. When buying a KEMKES item you will know that you will be wearing discarded textiles, greatly reducing the enviromental footprint but above all you will not find someone wearing the same piece any time soon.