Reet Aus Fashion For The Slow, Sustainable, And Ethical

Reet Aus is a PhD-educated fashion designer and environmental activist who founded REET AUS COLLECTION® and THE UPSHIRT®. She is a pioneer in the field of industrial upcycling for fashion, and she created the UPMADE® certification to share her expertise with brands and factories.

All of this is done to reduce the environmental impact of the fashion industry and to demonstrate that change is possible!

We manage to reduce and prevent waste in the fashion manufacturing process by producing items made entirely of production leftovers. Instead of being the cause of additional waste, we are using design as a solution.

We are UPMADE® certified and provide this certification to brands and factories, which we created in collaboration with the Stockholm Environmental Institute. We provide consumers, brands, and factories with new options for sustainable consumption through this integral Industrial Upcycling method.

You’ve come to the right place if you’re looking for a sustainable alternative to a corporate shirt. We’re here to help you create a one-of-a-kind design for your corporate up-shirt while minimizing the environmental impact that regular factory-made t-shirts have.

Fashion For The Slow, Sustainable, And Ethical
Reet Aus, PhD, is a sustainable fashion designer and ardent visionary who developed industrial upcycling principles that reduce the fashion industry’s environmental impact by reusing fabrics from mass production.

We accomplish this through the process of industrial upcycling. This entails making clothing out of pre-production fabric scraps.

In mass production, 18% of new fabrics are considered pre-consumer waste and end up in landfills. Our clothes are carbon neutral due to the fact that no extra fabric is produced for us.

Furthermore, because we use virgin fabric, we ensure that the leftover fabric does not contain harmful chemicals and that production is socially responsible, meets workplace safety requirements, and, of course, does not use child labor.

This radically waste-free new production model is based on UPMADE®, a scientific core methodology. It was created in collaboration with the Stockholm Environment Institute Tallinn Center by our designer and founder PhD Reet Aus. In factories that we certify, this methodology is used to produce clothing for the Reet Aus trademark and other brands.

The garments of Reet AusTM tell the story of:

• Quality and durability – the garments are designed to last both physically and stylistically;
• Clean environment – on average, each garment saves 75% of the water, 88% of the energy, and emits 80% less CO2.
• Transparency in production – Bangladesh and India production facilities meet Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) and International Labour Organization (ILO) safety and fair pay standards; UPMADE® certification.

Out Of Fashion

Jaak Kilmi and Lennart Laberenz, who produced the documentary “Out Of Fashion” about Reet and her plan to change the world by changing the fashion industry, captured the beginning of our story.

We live in a time when the rate of consumption is increasing all the time. It’s no secret that the fashion industry nourishes and inspires some of the most destructive forms of consumerism. Thousands of third-world factories produce not only clothing for large corporations, but also tons and tons of toxic waste. This, an Estonian designer with a passion for change felt, could not go on.

Reet Aus, a fashion designer, has big plans. She has realized that the only way to combat the waste caused by the fashion industry is to fight it from within, working with the biggest brands, their thoughts in the here and now, to make a difference for future generations.

The documentary “Out of Fashion” follows Reet Aus’ journey from Tallinn to Europe’s fashion stages, cotton plantations in South America, and right into the heart of mass production in Bangladesh, in an attempt to effect real change that benefits everyone.

The documentary was shot between 2009 and 2014.
The film premiered as part of the 2015 Estonian Design Night.

Jaak and Reet are currently filming “Completely Out of Fashion,” their second documentary.

Content courtesy of Reet Aus & NFH