July 31, 2009 Written by Connie Wu
Remember when you used to rock that awesome leather jacket and you thought it was the coolest thing you owned and wore it to death? Nowadays, it sits in a box in the attic or in the back of your closet, lonely and unworn, and yet, you just can’t part ways with it.
With reMade, there might still be hope for your jacket. The San Francisco-based design company reMade “upcycles” used leather clothing and scraps to make one-of-a-kind handbags, clutches, and totes. They source their leather from thrift stores as well as furniture and automotive upholstery industry scraps, and use beautiful vintage scarves for the handbag linings. You can even send in your own jacket to make a custom order bag!
Shannon South started reMade when she got frustrated as a designer with creating more products, which felt excessive when considering the state of the planet and its landfills. Her conscience pricked, she went to her local Goodwill store, found a leather jacket and used it to make a purse. Pleased with the results, she went on to create more used leather bags, each with the slight imperfections and signs of wear from its past life that make her designs so intriguing.
We love the fashion-forward Ashbury tote, with a cool zipper accent at the front, and a big, slouchy shape. The Alameda clutch is perfect for a night out, and the Bernal tote is ideal as a weekend bag. We love them even more knowing these purses were beloved leather jackets in a past life, and now they get a second chance!
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Thanks for covering this label, and others like it that are focused on re-use of existing materials. The more I shop for just about anything (cars, furniture, kitchen stuff, clothes) the more I think I could do without anything brand-new again. It makes so much more sense to support creative companies that are recycling, or upcycling, materials into new forms and functions.
There’s another little label in LA that is about to launch, called ANAMU. The website is anamuonline.com and should be ‘going live’ pretty soon. But it’s a great concept – incorporating stylish vintage materials into updated accessories – and the designer really has great fashion sense and LA roots.
Would be cool to see you do a follow-up piece on ANAMU and some other upstarts that are conceptually similar to reMake. Thanks again!
of course I meant reMade, not “reMake”…
very cool.