Fashion Upcycling and Social Impact: A Case Study

Abstract

To upcycle is to take something already made and then improve upon it, or turn it into a fresh item, so fashion upcycling is a process of using excess or waste clothing and textiles to generate new products, as an unconventional and new practices, which can successfully tackle concerns on excessive consumption of resources. The project "From Granny to Trendy" works with fashion upcycling and, in addition to the issue of sustainability, promotes the empowerment of unemployed women over 50 years. The main objective of our paper is to analyze social partnerships, particularly the social impact on the individual level, so a case study was conducted, exploring the benefits and difficulties of the project that belongs to a local nonprofit organization (NPO). The study is based on a qualitative (seven focus groups) and quantitative data analysis-two questionnaires, in two distinct moments: moment one corresponding to the beginning of the training and moment two corresponding to the end of the training, in a total of 100 questionnaires, 50 in each moment. Our study explores the project impact at the micro level, and conclude that participants gain benefits through the acquisition of new instrumental/technical knowledge/capabilities (e.g., new insights about fashion design) and psychological benefits (e.g., improvement of self-confidence).)