Lívia Castro
Lívia Castro
BRAZIL
“Sustainable fashion means to construct a world of possibilities, to transform trash into products to create new ways to picture consumption and ourselves.”
Showcasing an ability to make something extraordinary out of the ordinary, for her collection Lívia Castro turned to a wardrobe staple: jeans. Despite their basic outlook, she found inspiration to transform them from the texture and uniqueness of each pair.
“Jeans are part of a collective identity,” shares the designer, who holds a BA in Fashion Design from FUMEC University, Brazil. “I wanted to create unique pieces that people could connect with and care for years.”
Her collection ‘HeritageBlue’ honours the legacy of jeans while incorporating a plaid handmade pattern to create unique pieces based on personalities. With jeans being such a classic item, the choice of subject encourages their longevity in the wardrobes of consumers. “Fashion is like our second skin, the way we show ourselves to the world,” she says.
Lívia rips the locally sourced jeans to create plaid patterns and stripes with a rustic finish for manual weaving, transforming the belt loop into buttons and reusing the back pockets in the new designs. To avoid cut waste, the clothes are modelled on paper, with the plaid patterns then layered on top of it. After shapes are cut, the pieces are used in the denim dress. Leftover triangles from ripping between the legs are sewn to create an evasé balloon shape, while distress patterns from cutting are incorporated into the shoulder pads and garment finishing.
Considering the large amount of resources that go into producing a pair of jeans, Lívia recognises the value of prolonging their lifecycle. “Denim has the characteristic of appreciating in value with time and ageing beautifully. That’s why I see my garments being fixed and passed through generations.” Her jeans and sewing materials are sourced locally, further reducing their carbon footprint.
To design for recyclability, Lívia chose to work only with jeans composed of cotton and to sew with cotton thread. She also plans to offer a takeback programme to transform her clothes after consumers are done with them, and partner with an artisanal paper production collective to deal with waste.
Lívia looks forward to developing her brand RE.TRAMA, scaling production to sell globally but produce locally. She is committed to working with secondhand materials and partnering with other brands to transform their waste into sustainable products.
