The R Collective teams with Levi’s in upcycled Denim Reimagined range

Upcycled fashion label The R Collective has launched its Denim Reimagined capsule collection at K11 Musea’s Levi’s store in Hong Kong.

The Denim Reimagined collection, created by local designer Jesse Lee, uses surplus denim from Levi’s jeans and is being launched to coincide with the brand’s global #WearAndCare sustainable consumer care campaign. A virtual workshop conducted in English and Chinese is scheduled to be held on Wednesday next week to engage with locked-down, socially-distanced consumers on how to reduce the climate impact of the fashion industry via sustainable consumer care behavior.

“I was inspired by how the ocean’s natural beauty plays a huge role in regulating the Earth’s climate,” said Lee at the Levi’s in-store launch. “Fashion inspires and designers must engage with customers, particularly during this uncertain time of socially-distancing, when we’re forced to reimagine the world we want to live in. Denim’s biggest climate impact is caused during consumer care and fabric production, and so Denim Reimagined tackles both upcycling and consumer care, so we can all have caring closets.”

“Upcycling excess materials and extending the life of garments are two of the most sustainable things we can do with our clothing, as anyone who has owned a pair of vintage Levi’s knows,” said Levi Strauss & Co director of sustainability Liz Lipton-McCombie. “As such, we’re proud to support creative upcycling projects, like The R Collective’s Denim Reimagined, and are encouraged to see the progress they are making.”

The collection features digital clothing care labels, which consumers can scan to learn more about the clothing item and receive one of four different sustainability messages: how the garment was made; how to care for clothes to reduce clothing’s climate impact; solutions for keeping fashion in use and out of landfills; and the collection’s story.

“In a post-Covid-19 world,” said The R Collective founder/CEO Christina Dean, “consumers expect greater transparency and sustainability and so the value of having technology, like Denim Reimagined’s unique digital identities, allows us to interact with and, most importantly, educate consumers on how to care for their garments in a sustainable, climate-friendly way.”