Meet the makers giving Crisis’ unsold clothes a new life

HEADER IMAGE Designs by Owen Edward Snaith, Marie Lueder & Hadiyah Hussain

A garment can fail to sell without failing to have value. In a charity shop, whether something finds a buyer can come down to its size, season, location, current trends, or whether the right person happens to spot it on the rail at the right moment. A perfectly good shirt can be overlooked; a coat can fail to connect with the customers; a dress can move between shops without ever finding its ideal occasion. None of that makes the garment worthless; it simply means that, this time, it didn’t find its next home.

For homelessness charity Crisis, that is where an item’s retail journey can take a different turn. Donated clothing is sorted, prepared and priced before being placed in its charity shops, with stock rotated between locations to maximise its chances of finding a buyer, alongside adjustments to pricing and online sales where appropriate. Selling donated clothing remains the priority, but second-hand retail (like any form of retail) is unpredictable, and some garments eventually complete that journey without finding a buyer. Rather than treating this outcome as the end of its potential, Unsold. Retold., the latest Create for Crisis campaign, asks what else these garments could become.

That question brought 12 London-based makers into Crisis’ warehouse in early July, where they selected unsold items and were given six weeks to rethink, rework and reinterpret what was already there. “Everything is salvageable, and everything has potential to become something else,” says Olli Hull. For the artist and fashion designer, crafting their capsule collection revealed just how much potential could be hiding in the most unlikely places. “What surprised me the most about working with these garments was just how many different ways there are to up-cycle even the most boring or obscure clothing.”

What surprised me the most about working with these garments was just how many different ways there are to up-cycle even the most boring or obscure clothing.

Olli Hull

That variety is reflected across the collections, challenging the idea that creative reuse has one recognisable look. Here, Berlin-born designer Marie Lueder approaches sportswear through the lens of her established fashion practice; Ashley Jess Knight brings her background in weaving and textile construction; Grandpa’s Shirts founder Gaby Owens transforms second-hand menswear with feminine whimsy; Hadiyah Hussain encourages customers to experiment with colour for her own spin on pre-loved pieces. “Vibrant clothing shouldn’t stay in the wardrobe until summer. When it’s worn daily, it can give a much-needed dopamine hit,” Hadiyah explains.

Through Unsold. Retold., the clothing doesn’t need rescuing, but instead a change of context, allowing a different set of eyes to reveal possibilities that perhaps weren’t visible on the shop floor. As Ashley puts it, “The biggest shift was moving away from designing for the garments and instead designing with them.” Existing construction, fabric, colour, embellishment – and even the imperfections or frayed seams of a particular garment – become part of the creative process, rather than obstacles to it.

“There are so many people doing incredible things with upcycling, especially here in London and across the UK; it might just take a little bit of extra time to seek them out,” says Gaby. Thankfully, Crisis is making this discovery easy – the makers’ collections will be sold through selected Crisis shops and online, with the proceeds equally distributed between the makers and the charity, to fund its continued mission to end homelessness.

And what better time to celebrate the campaign than during Second Hand September, a month-long initiative highlighting the massive environmental cost of fast fashion and overconsumption. “As a country, we send over 300,000 tonnes of clothing to landfill each year,” Gaby shares. “By upcycling clothes that don’t sell, we can help improve this statistic.” 

The UK sends more clothing to landfill than any other European country, while a further 200,000 tonnes end up at charity shops, endlessly searching for their next home. For Crisis, the aim isn’t to replace textile recycling; when garments reach the end of their retail journey, recycling remains an important part of keeping textiles in circulation – although last year, income generated through recycling unsold textiles represented less than 1% of Crisis’ shops’ turnover. “I love the idea of giving garments a new lease of life and adding my creative spin to them,” says Hadiyah. “We are in a fast fashion epidemic, so anything I can do to encourage people to buy second-hand as well as supporting small designers is really important to me.”

This shift towards buying second-hand is great; however, it is important to find the balance between shopping second-hand and continuing to support young emerging designers. Projects like Unsold. Retold. foster both these ideas by marrying second-hand retail with emerging talent, helping to raise wider conversations around sustainable practices, shopping and support.

Owen Edward Snaith

Unsold. Retold. explores what else can happen before a garment reaches a recycling centre, extending the life of selected pieces with creativity at its core. “I believe that clothes should have a longer life span,” says Scottish designer Owen Edward Snaith. “There has been a strong shift in people’s mindsets around being sustainably conscious, especially when buying clothes. This shift towards buying second-hand is great; however, it is important to find the balance between shopping second-hand and continuing to support young emerging designers. Projects like Unsold. Retold. foster both these ideas by marrying second-hand retail with emerging talent, helping to raise wider conversations around sustainable practices, shopping and support.”

Alongside the collections, curated bundles of unsold clothing will also be made available to creatives, students and makers, extending the invitation to a new generation of designers, upcyclers, and makers. Because the most interesting thing about Unsold. Retold isn’t that this talented bunch of makers managed to create something new from unwanted clothes. It’s that twelve people could walk into the same warehouse, pull from the same pile of fabrics, and see twelve completely different possibilities – each revealing what these garments have been waiting to become.

Below, meet the makers behind Crisis’ Unsold. Retold. campaign.

Olli Hull

Find their collection online and at Shop from Crisis Camden & Shop from Crisis Streatham

“My work sits between fashion, fine art and storytelling,” says Olli Hull, whose practice explores identity, queerness, transformation and our relationship to the natural world. That crossover is particularly visible in their approach to second-hand clothing. “I love working with second-hand clothing because each piece already has a history. I don’t like starting with a blank canvas.” For Unsold. Retold, Olli took that history as a starting point, selecting floral and earthy prints and textures to develop through hand embroidery, painting and reconstruction.

The result is what they describe as a “grunge fairytale”: a teal tulle dress is gathered and ruffled, but given a distinctly punk edge, while a bodycon graffiti dress comes with a printed black-and-white cropped hoodie. Elsewhere, a hand-drawn snake motif creates a dramatic waistline for a floral mini, paired with graphic white gloves; a purple corseted gown feels ready for the stage; and a long-sleeve periwinkle dress carries a moody hand-drawn portrait of a woman.

Across the collection, Olli’s drawings and painted graphics make each garment feel individually authored, while the whole project became a chance to refine their techniques. They describe it as a “love letter to upcycling”, and initially took inspiration from a dandelion growing through a pavement they had passed. “I wanted this collection to feel like it has survived something; through destruction and falling apart, it rebuilt itself into something more beautiful and powerful than before.”

Hadiyah Hussain

Find her collection online and at Shop from Crisis Walthamstow

Colour and culture collide in Hadiyah Hussain’s capsule collection, bringing vibrant second-hand garments into her signature world of draped, form-fitting silhouettes. Her approach to the Crisis warehouse finds also took her somewhere unexpected: “The colours and bold prints I selected have surprised me because I am able to create pieces I wouldn’t have otherwise; it’s given me new creative freedom.” The result brings contemporary shapes, playful details and a distinctly whimsical sensibility together across a saturated palette.

Her approach to pre-loved clothing is rooted in the stories garments already carry. “When I’m looking for textiles to upcycle, I always think, this has a story. This has already had a life, but how do I revive it? How do I add extra spice to it? How do I give it the new lease of life it deserves?”

Ruching is Hadiyah’s beloved technique of choice for creating silhouettes that hug and flatter every curve, seen in a turquoise-blue tonal patchwork top gathered into sculptural ruffles. Elsewhere, candy-striped fabrics sit alongside vivid teals, yellows and purples, while Hadiyah has also block-printed plain textiles with a handcrafted, nature-inspired motif. And, when asked to sum up her current creative spirit, there’s a very specific pop reference she reaches for: “I’m in a very Midnight Sun mood right now.”

Marie Lueder, LUEDER

Find her collection online and at Shop from Crisis Elephant & Castle

When she’s not staging London Fashion Week runways – or dressing celebs from Rose McGowan to BTS’ RM at the World Cup Halftime Show – Marie Lueder’s creative practice frequently returns to transformation. In fact, her 2020 runway debut featured an entirely upcycled collection, with unisex designs blending classic sportswear silhouettes, undone tailoring and nods to historical dress. This time, however, Marie’s starting point was a familiar charity shop favourite: discarded football kits. From there, she began reconsidering the huge volumes of clothing and merchandise left behind by major sporting events, such as this summer’s World Cup, and the enduring appeal of sportswear codes when stripped from their original context.

Working with selected fabrics from the Crisis warehouse meant adapting to the construction of garments designed for performance over style. “Halfway through the collection development, there were definitely changes and adaptations to working with virgin materials,” the Berlin-born designer explained. But that constraint also became an opportunity to test just how far an existing garment could be pushed. The resulting collection retains the recognisable language of the football kit while pushing it into LUEDER’s more subversive territory, reshaping familiar sportswear styles through careful reconstruction, playful proportions and runway-ready tailoring. 

Laura Casas Tomasiche, The Marcon Court Project

Find her collection online and at Shop from Crisis Peckham

Laura regularly works with deadstock, repurposed and second-hand fabrics through The Marcon Court Project, with reworking built into her approach to everyday wardrobe staples. At the Crisis warehouse, she was drawn to classic pieces including blazers, which became the basis for a collection of vertically split jackets that marry two garments into one. “I’ve learned over the years to look at clothes like pieces of fabric put together. At the end of the day, that’s what they are. You have to look at everything and think, if I want to make a skirt out of this, will my pattern pieces fit there?”

The blazers range from a Chanel-esque double-tweed pairing of cranberry and cobalt, to a preppy navy stripe spliced with an ice-cream palette of pale lemon and shell pink. Elsewhere, beige and grey checks and pinstripes offer more understated options, proving that the blazers can be both classic and adventurous. “Sometimes you pick up something and you really like it, but you know that it’s just not going to work for what you want,” she explains. “That’s why I mix and match a lot of fabrics; it’s like my problem-solving solution.”

Owen Edward Snaith

Find his collection online and at Shop from Crisis Finsbury Park

“Bonnie” is how Owen Edward Snaith describes his capsule collection. It’s a fitting description for a designer whose practice draws on traditional crafts, archival research and his experiences growing up in a small fishing community on Scotland’s east coast. Here, though, that heritage meets a distinctly contemporary wardrobe.

At the Crisis warehouse, Snaith approached the selection process much like his archival research, looking for quality fabrics and small details “from intricate stitching to an interesting pocket opening”. “A lot of the garments I selected were very muted, something that I am not always known for in my work,” he explains. “Someone else might have gone directly for those ‘standout’ pieces, but I really saw the potential in the understated.” That subdued starting point has made way for meticulously styled looks: two pairs of contrast-wash jeans are combined into one; a white pinstripe shirt becomes a chic button-up mini skirt with a printed red pinny-style layer added for a joyful pop of colour; and a grey utility skirt is transformed with fringe made from shredding an old tartan blanket. Another pair of jeans, bleached this time, are layered with a tartan kilt, creating a fashion-forward garment that feels styled before it’s even been put on.

The precision of Snaith’s patchwork and finishings gives the collection a refinement that belies its humble beginnings. And while he usually relishes creative freedom, working within the parameters of existing garments throughout this project proved productive: “I think that it’s always good to be challenged in your creative process as it sparks new ideas, allowing you to further your skill set and exercise your creative muscle.”

Gaby Owens, Grandpa’s Shirts

Find her collection online and at Shop from Crisis Islington

Gaby Owens has built Grandpa’s Shirts around a simple premise: that the clothes we inherit from loved ones can become something entirely different in the hands of a new wearer. Working primarily with vintage and second-hand menswear, Owens plays with the codes of traditional shirting – its proportions, formality and associations with masculinity – to create pieces that feel more contemporary, maximalist, and kitschy. “I love to bring whimsy to everyday shirting and turn something traditionally very masculine into the ultimate girly blouses with all the bows and frills!”

That instinct extends beyond the shirts themselves. For this collection, Owens brought together matching shirting, frilled details and one of Grandpa’s Shirts’ increasingly recognisable motifs: the rosette. A pale blue check shirt is transformed with an oversized Peter Pan collar and maroon ribbon bow, while a second check shirt, this time in brown, follows the same playful silhouette. Elsewhere, a white and navy polka-dot shacket gets a frilled placket, while a cropped-sleeve navy shirt has a girlish frilled hem. The collection is tied together by rosettes in navy, maroon, grey and black pinstripe and silk.

There’s a practical logic behind her attachment to old shirting, too. “It’s about finding shirting which is already made from great fabrics like cotton and silk.” For Gaby, retaining the quality and character of existing garments has an impact beyond the clothes themselves. “Through doing fun campaigns like this, I hope we can really educate people about the amount of clothing waste there is,“ she explains. “That might either stop someone from buying something new, which perhaps they don’t need, or it could also encourage them to shop from independent and upcycled brands.”

Sophie Nancy, Planet Soph

Find her collection online and at Shop from Crisis Hackney & Shop from Crisis Kilburn

Planet Soph is Sophie’s “own little world away from the fashion industry”: fun, sustainable and inclusive, built around upcycling and teaching others to see the potential in existing textiles. For this campaign, she arrived at the Crisis warehouse with a straightforward plan: to turn flowy second-hand dresses into patchworked skirts. The garments, however, had other ideas.

“I was surprised by how much material I could get out of each dress I had chosen,” she explains. Many had linings, giving Sophie almost twice as much fabric to work with. Pieces that couldn’t be used for the skirts were turned into matching tops instead, “accidentally creating full looks”. The extra material also gave her room to layer fabrics and push the collection towards the grungier aesthetic she had in mind.

Inspired by the skirts Charli XCX wore on her BRAT tour, Sophie wanted to make patchwork feel less crafty and more effortlessly cool. The result includes a black satin-and-lace cami and skirt layered over a green Bardot top; a sheer black lace dress styled over a white top and ruffled grey skirt; and a cropped white shirt and black bra paired with a red, pattern-clashed ruffle skirt. “The pieces look fresh off the runway, or a festival stage, and could be worn by any of your fave fashion icons,” she says.

Ashley Jess Knight

Find her collection online and at Shop from Crisis Camberwell

Ashley Jess Knight’s design practice began with weaving. After graduating with a degree in Fashion & Textiles Design, she developed a way of turning unwanted textiles into new fabrics, including buying discarded wedding dresses from a bridal boutique for around a pound, stripping them into yarn and weaving them into custom pieces. “I love weaving because it’s so rhythmic. You’re making the fabric from scratch,” she explains. Her approach to the Crisis garments was similarly rooted in working with what was already there, rather than imposing a fixed design. “I can’t look at a blank canvas. I have to have a story, a background for my brain to work around.”

Her willingness to respond to what a garment gives her is informed by her background as a weaver, where problem-solving is part of the process. A sun-bleached vintage denim jacket, for example, once inspired her to design heart patches around the damaged areas rather than conceal them entirely. “I did it so that the distress is not the first thing you see, and then you see it.”

For her Unsold. Retold. collection, bright heart-shaped patches, handmade daisy pockets and colourful trims turn denim jackets into playful and distinctly personal outerwear. One jacket features a patchwork and embroidered crossword across the back, while another cherry-red faux snakeskin jacket is finished with a hand-embroidered “Joy” heart. Clouds, rain and flowers appear as appliquéd details, bringing her very own weather system to the collection.

Sonia Menouer-Mahmood, Green Ancestors

Find her collection online and at Shop from Crisis Ealing & Shop from Crisis Putney

“My love of upcycling comes from my ever-present impulse to want to alter and embellish finished garments, like a means to materialise my creative mind,” says Sonia, whose brand Green Ancestors began with reworked vintage knitwear. Born in France but now based in London, her aesthetic sits between the effortless and the exuberant: easy, comfortable clothes enlivened with colour, fun and a little eccentricity. At the Crisis warehouse, she deliberately arrived without a fixed idea. “I normally have a very clear idea of the kind of clothes that I make, but on the day, I knew I wanted to play with knitwear, so I was looking for anything really plain which you wouldn’t really look at if you saw it in a shop.”

That open-minded approach quickly found its focus in a lemon cashmere cardigan. Rather than cutting into the delicate knit, Sonia decided to embellish it with a constellation of golden star, moon and sun charms, an idea that soon spread across the rest of the collection. “From that moment I realised the dreamy, glittery, and shiny celestial theme could work on other pieces, and it helped drive the designs.”

The finished capsule collection brings that celestial language to a surprisingly varied wardrobe: white adidas sports shorts finished with black eyelash lace and a star patch; a red bomber emblazoned with star embellishments; a cropped grey sports sweatshirt with its waistband repositioned to cinch the waist; and a navy men’s blazer bearing a crescent moon. Even a striped handbag gets a zingy orange trim. For Sonia, the experience has encouraged her to experiment more with menswear: “The real surprise is now I want to work with more men’s blazers!”

Sean Marsh

Find their collection online and at Shop from Crisis Muswell Hill

A scuff, a tear or a worn-out seam might suggest the end of a garment’s retail life, but for Sean Marsh, it can signal its potential. Inspired by DIY punk’s instinct to keep old clothes alive while making them distinct from mass-produced fashion, Sean approached the Crisis selection as a chance to repair, customise and give each piece a little more personality. “Since collecting all the old and unwanted clothes from the warehouse, I have been able to both repair and customise the clothes into more interesting and unique pieces with more personality and individuality,” they share.

That DIY attitude runs through the finished collection, where hand-drawn graphics, punky patches, lace and floral appliqués, and mismatched embellishments restyle familiar wardrobe staples into something far more idiosyncratic. Cherry red jeans are decorated with black-and-white lace appliqués and pearl trims, while a white tank is covered in black marker drawings and patched with tartan and denim. Elsewhere, a black shirt and trousers become a matching canvas for a reimagined two-piece set, while a patchwork skirt combines denim, seaside stripes and shredded tartan. A striped tie embellished in multicoloured buttons provides an appropriately personalised finishing touch.

The project also pushed Sean beyond their usual methods. “With most of my previous work being hand-sewn, having access to a sewing machine for this collection really surprised me both by how easy it was to pick up and learn, as well as allowing me to be more productive than hand-sewing only would allow.” Their collection feels handmade without being precious about it, celebrating imperfections with the care and consideration of his personal, hand-drawn adornments. 

Jessica Alviani, Cheshe

Find her collection online and at Shop from Crisis Dalston & Shop from Crisis Archway

Cheshe is built around Jessica’s “Rework System” – a rejection of the idea that fashion needs to keep producing new clothes when there are already more than enough garments and textiles in circulation. It’s why she describes herself as a “creative director” rather than a designer: she believes the industry has no shortage of material, but is lacking in ways to reconsider and repurpose it. At Crisis, she paid close attention to seams, pockets, fastenings, textures, wear and imperfections: “Instead of seeing these characteristics as limitations, I found that they often gave the final designs more personality and helped guide the direction of the rework.”

That philosophy is evident in her capsule collection, where delicate lace, worn leather and exposed hardware are pulled together through deconstructed silhouettes that feel deliberately unfinished. Existing details are left visible rather than concealed, giving the pieces a sense of their former lives while pushing them firmly into Cheshe’s punk-meets-elegance aesthetic. “What surprised me most was how much creative potential already existed within the garments,” she explains. “When you stop looking at a piece for what it was originally designed to be and start seeing it as a material, the possibilities completely change.”

Katy Boyle, Kabo Clothing

Find their collection online and at Shop from Crisis Brick Lane

Katy’s approach to styling, upcycling and remixing clothing is much like her approach to her own style: pierce, customise, and make it your own. Having worked in vintage before teaching herself to sew, the maker behind Kabo Clothing found themself looking for ways to bring the same playful attitude they bring to dressing up every day. Eyelets, silver hardware and pierced details became her answer: “It’s a really quick and easy and accessible way to add life and character to clothes.”

That attitude is all over her capsule collection, where formal wardrobe staples are given a distinctly Kabo treatment. Blazers, shirts and ties became the starting point for what she calls “office-core-for-the-baddies”: a blue-and-white striped belt skirt is covered in grommets, alongside a tartan version; shirts are pierced through their collars; and caps come embellished with grommets, metal studs, spikes and embroidery. Even a pair of sunglasses gets jewellery threaded through its frame, turning an everyday accessory into something closer to body adornment.

For Katy, that DIY approach also makes creativity feel less intimidating. “I think now people are really scared to be creative. If you’re not an artist or a designer, people are like, ‘I can’t, I can’t, stay in my lane.’” Her practice is built around proving otherwise. “Everyone has some sort of creativity inside them,” she says. “I love enabling people with the skills to make it themselves, because it doesn’t have to be perfect. I hope that people shopping the collection can have fun and play around with my clothes.”

The Unsold. Retold collections are available to shop from Crisis stores across London, plus selected pieces online, from 11th September. Find more on the collections and Crisis’ campaign at Crisis’ online shop.

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