By Hazal Ak / Getty Images
What to do with old electronic cables? It's a legitimate question, as this waste can be polluting, if only because of the materials such cables contain. Instead of throwing them in the trash, a young British-Nigerian designer has decided to turn them into shoes -- stilettos and sneakers -- creating real works of art that combine innovation, streetwear vibes and circular fashion.
What to do with old electronic cables? It's a legitimate question, as this waste can be polluting, if only because of the materials such cables contain. Instead of throwing them in the trash, a young British-Nigerian designer has decided to turn them into shoes -- stilettos and sneakers -- creating real works of art that combine innovation, streetwear vibes and circular fashion.
"Nothing is lost, nothing is created, everything is transformed." Never has Antoine Lavoisier's adage made more sense than in this age overshadowed by the climate emergency. And fashion design is one of the fields that is slowly but surely putting ecology on the agenda by trying to reduce waste and trash, both of which can result from overconsumption. It was in the Covid-19 lockdown of early 2020 that young British-Nigerian designer Tega Akinola started buzzing on social networks. The reason? She transformed various old or faulty electronic cables into a pair of pumps that soon went viral. And that was just the beginning, because since then the artist has specialized in creating upcycled streetwear, turning all kinds of waste into ultra-desirable fashion items.
From cables to fleeces to socks
What home doesn't have a box filled with old or unusable cables? Whether it's USB cables, headphones, Ethernet cables, or even charging cables, this e-waste that builds up and pollutes rather than serving any real purpose is now being given a second life. This is already the case in the jewelry sector, where designers are transforming cables into jewelry creations, but they are now also finding a place in fashion with initiatives that are as original as they are ingenious. As the Covid-19 pandemic forced people into lockdown in early 2020, Tega Akinola -- only just in her 20s -- decided to tackle these cables that are often found in the back of closets, transforming them into shoes of all kinds. From sandals to stilettos to sneakers, anything goes, proving that it is genuinely possible to create something new -- and even works of art -- from something seemingly worthless.
Since then, the young designer has diversified, focusing as much on waste as on used clothing. What started as a hobby during lockdown has quickly turned into a business, with the help and support of APOC Store, which has sold some of her creations in limited edition. With stilettos made from branded sports socks, bucket hats made from electronic cables, pumps made from old sports bags, and ultra trendy handbags made from old fleeces: the designer knows no limit, transforming almost everything she finds into clothes and accessories.
"When I first started, my focus wasn’t on, 'oh I’m going to try to be sustainable.' It was just the idea of buying second-hand things and making them new. When I realized that I could help contribute or help inspire people to be more consciously aware of what they buy and why they buy it, I started to hone that a little bit more," says Tega Akinola in an interview with Vogue UK. Such is her success that the young artist and designer was spotlighted as part of the 2021 'Sneakers Unboxed: Studio to Street' exhibition at London's Design Museum, which featured one of her upcycled creations.
Reframing waste as a plentiful resource
As we know, the Covid-19 pandemic has raised awareness, and made upcycling a solution to fight against some of the planet's woes. As a result, three years later, all sectors are getting involved, from clothing to jewelry, from the beauty industry to food, from new technologies to the automotive industry. The idea is to make something new out of something old, by reusing waste considered as a source of pollution. All of this sometimes leads to creations, or collections that that can be highly improbable, such as jeans made from beer brewing waste, clothes designed from car seats, seatbelts and windshields and batteries developed from shellfish waste. All of which makes waste more desirable than ever.
