Fashion Clinic
CASE STUDY
Created by Redress, 2019
Fashion Clinic
Fashion activists Toby Crispy and Kay Wong strive for fundamental change in the fashion industry with Hong Kong-based Fashion Clinic launched in 2017. Pushing against a global acceleration in the production and consumption of clothing, Fashion Clinic works to create a new system by providing services over products. The team advocates for consumers to ‘choose well, buy smart, and re-experience fashion’ in order to close the loop on the consumption cycle.
In this case study, Kay Wong from Hong Kong-based Fashion Clinic shares how they prolong the lifespan of garments through high-end repair, alteration, and redesign services.
IN CONVERSATION WITH KAY WONG
What inspired you to launch Fashion Clinic?
We worked in the fashion industry for over 10 years and felt exhausted from keeping up with collections from season to season. The cycle was becoming faster and faster, with an emphasis on driving lower prices. So we decided to change our career paths to focus on counteracting this broken system with fundamental change.
What does Fashion Clinic offer?
Instead of selling products, we offer repair, reshape (alteration), and redesign services for people’s existing wardrobes. Through these services, Fashion Clinic aims to prolong the lifespan of garments while encouraging our customers to take better care of their clothing.
We found that many people have garments that they no longer wear and we encourage them to think twice before giving them away. They can bring their pre-loved clothing to us and we can breathe new life into them.
Image credit: Fashion Clinic
What process do you go through with your customers?
We normally encourage our customers to first do a complete tidying and re-organisation of their wardrobe. This process allows them to evaluate each piece and keep the items they truly love. For items that have sentimental value, but don’t fit well or are damaged, Fashion Clinic will rework them so they can continue being an active part of their wardrobe.
What kinds of garments do your customers bring in for reworking?
A lot of our customers are former shopaholics who are passionate about fashion and are now converting to be more conscious about their consumption. They bring us garments which have special meaning to them, but for one reason or another, they are not actively wearing. Some items are inherited from family members or were worn once at a special occasion. Often, the style is simply outdated, no longer fits, or has damage such as staining.
How do you revamp your customers’ clothes?
It depends on the state of the garment, and each item is unique. We typically mix traditional darning stitches with sashiko or boro patchwork with contemporary embroidery. We have also done complete garment transformations like turning a pair of jeans into a cool jacket or turning a men’s button-up shirt into a maternity dress. To ensure clothing longevity, we focus on simplicity and good design in each of the pieces we rework.
Can you share some advice about how to design garments for longevity?
We believe simplicity is the key to long lasting items. To quote German industrial and product designer Dieter Rams, “...good design is as little design as possible. Complexity is often a sure sign that the functional needs have not been solved.”
LEARN MORE FROM FASHION CLINIC
To further promote ‘Choosing Well’ and ‘Buying Smart’, Fashion Clinic offers private restyling services, helping customers identify the most flattering styles for their body type and personality, as well as workshops to rearrange wardrobes for more active and efficient use, using a combination of theories that put emphasis on living simpler and decluttering, such as those from Marie Kondo, Danshari or L’art de la Simplicité.
Fashion Clinic’s notable projects include:
Calvin Klein Jeans REIMAGINED DENIM COLLECTION
In 2022, Fashion Clinic collaborated with Calvin Klein Jeans on an upcycled collection to recreate 2,000 pairs of unworn jeans using handcrafted patchwork, reinforced rips, washing and distressing techniques.
Fashion Clinic X Adidas pop-up
Fashion Clinic hosted a pop-up space in the Adidas Originals flagship store in 2022 to showcase their capsule collection created from off-season sportswear from the brand and to hold a series of weekend upcycling workshops for the public.