Recycling/ Reusing
Our original Worn Again footwear collection launched in ‘05, kept old mens’ suits, car seats, granddad shirts and prison blankets from ending up at the scrap heap. And since then, we’ve been discovering more and more unexpected things that can be made into fantastic products: surplus military tents, bicycle inner tubes, airline seat covers and car seat belts.
We’ve recently been helping Eurostar and Virgin Balloon Flights achieve their waste reduction goals by taking their decommissioned uniforms and retired hot air balloons and turning them into new products.
Environmentally Responsible Manufacturing, Transport and Sourcing
Since our beginning, we’ve been dedicated to finding more diverse production models to support local economies and minimise the miles traveled by our products before they reach the end owner.
Worn Again established its name in footwear made from recycled materials after launching in Autumn 2005. To get off the ground, we started with our manufacturing base in China, where 80% of the world’s shoes are made, with the intention of – over the years – moving production closer to home. We worked closely with Brilliant Footwear, a factory in Guangdong, China, which at the time we left them had been in the process of getting its ISO 14000 certification.
As we started phasing out footwear, we moved some of our footwear production to Porto, Portugal and began making bags and accessories using the most fashionable disused seat belts, bicycle tires and military tents from the European region. We worked with two small scale producers, which you can see pictures of in our gallery.
Finally, in Autumn ’09, we were able to announce our first RE:Made in the UK range of outerwear, bags and accessories, called Bon Voyage! The materials to make the were all sourced within spitting distance of London.
We worked with two East London manufacturers on the Bon Voyage! range and have developed new manufacturing partners in Woolwich and Coventry to scale up our production.
Because we are now producing in the UK, goods are no longer shipped around the planet.
Visit our gallery to watch the slide show to see our UK supply chain in action.