Contents

I came across this image on the everydaytrash.com blog (who found it on a Danish blog). After seeing so much super haute couture upcycled fashion I again have been thinking about practicality, the usefulness of upcycled items, particularly fashion. I mean a lot of the things I have seen are really really amazing and elaborate and interesting. They are worn for balls or special high fashion events or whatever, and kudos to folks who actually wear these outfits more than once. But this pair of truly upcycled shoes is probably, actually used everyday. It didn't require expensive glue, a sewing machine and was definitely made from locally acquired trash. I'm totally down with upcycled fashion efforts that strive to educate about this new way of thinking about garbage, but I'm still a little skeptical about whether or not it's actually moving us toward sustainability or not. I'm also not saying that this picture taken in Africa is somehow "better" than the efforts I am seeing here, and I certainly don't want to romanticize wearing plastic bottle shoes (which I am sure cannot be very comfortable at all). But I do want to emphasize simplicity (something I am not so great at in my life at times). I'm wondering what others make of this photo.