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If you believe BMW development director Frank Weber, the car is on the verge of yet another revolution.
In addition to digitalisation and electrification, he says, circularity will become an increasingly important feature of vehicles. That means reusing materials that go into making cars.
Motor manufacturers are slowly running out of the raw materials needed to build new cars. There are also issues surrounding the energy expenditure and the carbon footprint involved in producing car parts.
That is why recyclability at the end of a car’s life cycle is becoming increasingly important.

With its next generation of vehicles, BMW aims to set new standards for recycling materials, Weber says. Other manufacturers, including Volvo and Mercedes, are following the trend.
It is not just the carmakers who are trying to reduce waste. In Cologne, Germany, Airpaq turns car industry waste into fashionable accessories. The company was set up six years ago by Adrian Goosses and Michael Widmann.
The company is particularly fond of seat belts, belt buckles and airbag fabric, which it uses to make backpacks, belt bags, bow ties, pocket squares and more.

These are then sold online through specialist retailers and sometimes also through car dealerships. A bow tie with a pocket square costs €40 (US$44). Backpacks currently start at around €100.
Airpaq is one of the growing number of companies aiming to reuse materials from the car industry to make new products. “That’s why we don’t call it recycling, but upcycling,” Goosses says.
There is plenty of such material around. Around half a million tons of car scrap becomes waste every year in Germany alone, according to the country’s central environment agency.

“We use parts of this scrap and combine it with aesthetic design and useful functions,” Goosses says. The result is a sustainable upcycled product that conserves valuable resources and reduces waste.
Korean car maker Hyundai, together with fashion brands and designers, has launched a collection of upcycled items every year since 2019. The items are sold worldwide via British luxury department store Selfridges’ online shop.
The products have so far included a corset made of recycled airbag fabric, necklaces and bracelets made from parts of seat belts, car glass and foam, and carrier bags made of webbing and foam leftovers.

In 2023, designer Jeremy Scott, then creative director of Italian fashion label Moschino, partnered with Korean carmaker Hyundai to design haute couture using parts of wheels, seat belts, tail lights and windscreen wipers created during the production of electric vehicles like the Kona.
No matter whether it is a backpack or a skirt, a necklace or a belt bag, the items all follow the ideal of upcycling. However, only a small amount of the material actually comes from old cars.
Airpaq gets its airbag materials directly from the car manufacturers’ suppliers in the form of materials that fail strict quality control and safety checks.
“They don’t have such a nice story to tell,” Goosses admits, “but in the end they are even more environmentally friendly because they weren’t processed in the first place and would have gone straight to the trash.”
Even with supplier relationships and the growing awareness of recycling, the fashion designer and waste expert still cannot avoid visiting the scrapyard. “We actually get the belt buckles and seat belts from old cars,” he says.


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Sustainability

Fashion designers turn old car parts into clothing as part of a recycling revolution

A corset made from airbag fabric in collaboration with carmaker Hyundai. Photo: Hyundai

A selection of fashion designer Jeremy Scott’s 2023 line of dresses made from discarded Hyundai car parts. Photo: Hyundai

Car bodies stacked at a scrapyard. Recycling materials used in making cars are becoming increasingly important in the automotive industry. Photo: Shutterstock

An Airpaq keychain made from upcycled airbags. Photo: Instagram / @airpaq

Airpaq’s roll top backpacks are made using upcycled materials from cars. Photo: Instagram/@airpaq

A corset made from airbag fabric in collaboration with Hyundai. Photo: Hyundai

Fashion made from discarded sofa and shower curtain earns Hong Kong designer an award

Hong Kong fashion designer Tiger Chung made a leather jacket with material sourced from a discarded couch as part of a collection that won the 2024 Redress Design Award, which champions sustainability. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Hong Kong fashion designer Tiger Chung used leather from this discarded couch to make a jacket that was part of the winning collection at the 2024 Redress Design Award. Photo: Tiger Chung 

A model wears the leather jacket made Tiger Chung at the Redress Design Award show in Hong Kong. Photo: Redress 

For this look, Redress Design Award winner Tiger Chung repurposed a discarded shower curtain for the top, while sneaker soles were sewn into the trousers. Photo: Redress 

Fashion designer Silvia Acien won the People’s Choice award for her Spanish-inspired looks. Photo: Jonathan Wong

A look from fashion designer Silvia Acien Parrilla, representing the UK, who won the People’s Choice category of the Redress Design Award. Photo: Redress 

Japanese jeans with lifetime warranty crafted ‘like making a kimono’ in denim mecca Kojima

A seamstress at Momotaro Jeans makes jeans using a vintage sewing machine. Photo: AP

Jeans hang over Jeans Street in Kojima. The quiet town in western Japan is known for its sustainably produced Japan Blue jeans, which can sell for US$1,400 a pair. Its attention to craftsmanship has drawn luxury brands like Gucci. Photo: AP

A weaver operates a handloom at Momotaro Jeans in Kojima. Photo: AP

Yoshiharu Okamoto, a dyer at Momotaro Jeans, demonstrates dyeing yarn in indigo. Photo:AP

Okamoto shows how he dyes the threads in indigo for denim at Momotaro Jeans. Photo: AP

Naomi Takebayashi, a seamstress for Momotaro Jeans, works on pairs of jeans in Kojima. Photo: AP

Takebayashi says she has a special relationship with the machines, and listens to them to make adjustments. Photo: AP

Why is everyone buying New Balance sneakers? The ‘dad shoe’ is right on trend, has had high-profile collaborations and was worn at the Fifa World Cup

Young sneakerheads have been drawn of late to New Balance sneakers, such as its 580 model (above), belying its image as a “dad shoe” brand. 

A New Balance 550 shoe. Sneaker resale site StockX reported that New Balance was among the top five bestselling brands on Black Friday last year.

New Balance 580 sneakers. The history of New Balance dates back to 1906.

New Balance 550 sneakers. The 550 was created for basketball players.

Apple founder Steve Jobs at an event in San Francisco in 2010. Jobs was often spotted wearing New Balance sneakers. Photo: Getty Images

A pair of New Balance 550s. Subcultures such as gorpcore and normcore have helped New Balance become trendy.

New Balance’s Aimé Leon Dore x 550 sneakers.

The New Balance 1906R shoe.

A collaboration with Italian menswear brand Stone Island has seen New Balance release a football boot worn at the Qatar 2022 World Cup.

A pair of New Balance 808 sneakers.

New Balance 650 kicks. There has been a more than 800 per cent year-on-year increase in searches for the silhouette.

Lifestyle

Fashion & Beauty

Resourceful fashion designers make clothes and accessories using everything from wheels to seat belts, as carmakers focus on material reuse


Resourceful fashion designers make clothes and accessories using everything from wheels to seat belts, as carmakers focus on material reuse.
