Eco-Friendly Designer Transforms Garbage Into Glamorous Outfits
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Most artists have a favorite material they like to work with. For 28-year-old Kristen Alyce, it happens to be trash. The eco-conscious designer uses her incredible talent to transform garbage like empty drink bottles and Skittles wrappers into glamorous outfits that sell for thousands of dollars.
Kristen says the idea came to her after she saw how much waste she and her three college roommates generated on a daily basis. The Fine Arts student began to dream about transforming the discarded bags and packages into beautiful garments. Her first dress made from plastic bags and rolled magazines was quirky, fun and even glamorous. However, she only made it to test her creativity.
The young designer did not consider starting a commercial venture until she spent a week working at Couture Fashion Week in New York City. There she observed the excitement generated by new and vintage looks and decided to see if her unusual idea would result in as much enthusiasm. She began by creating a line of 12 garbage-inspired dresses. They were a tremendous success and Garbage Gone Glam was born!
Today the company that has offices in Palm Beach, Florida and New York City, produces a wide variety of outfits that range from cocktail dresses to ball gowns. Kristen, of course, doesn't scout trash cans for her material anymore. Instead, she seeks it from companies that have manufactured more than they need and are planning to throw away the extras. Since the designer can work with anything from brochures to yellow page directory pages to candy wrappers, finding 'trash' is never an issue.
However, if you think the garbage inspired couture dresses come cheap, think again. The price for ready-made creations retails on the company's site from $500 to $1,500. Those seeking custom outfits have to fork out as much as $2,000 USD. Though that may appear expensive, the designer says that she has no shortage of customers. In fact thanks to persistent requests she now even has trash inspired attire for men that includes jackets, ties, trousers and even board shorts! While, most of the outfits are hardy enough to withstand multiple wears, whether they can be cleaned is a little unclear.
Resources: odditycentral.com, dailymail.co.uk
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1334 Comments
purdue13almost 9 yearsThe customers are paying for the outfits because it is unique and it is fashionable.- LTtigeralmost 9 yearsThe fact that you can make clothes out of material, can inspire to make anything out of anything!
- kktigeralmost 9 yearsawesome idea to make garbage into a dress!
- JMtigeralmost 9 yearsI think its really cool because no one would ever think of trying to make dresses out of trash
- gdtigeralmost 9 yearsThat is so creative how she decided to make dresses made out of trash!!! I wander what inspired her?
- AVBtigeralmost 9 yearsI want one of these dresses! It would be awesome to wear the Target bag dress or the one of the ones that weren't ballgowns. I want to work there! Maybe I'll try that when I get older...
- LSTigeralmost 9 yearsWow! That's amazing and very creative. That proves that you can use about anything to be creative!!! I wish I could do something like that.
- CJTigeralmost 9 yearsThat is very creative!! I would like to wear a tie made out of trash
- aptigeralmost 9 yearsI think that is really cool that she can make trash into clothes.
- cbtigeralmost 9 yearswow I never thought that trash would look so good on people. Also it will make garbage dumps decrease so there will be more room for houses or anything like that. Really I think its a great idea.