It started with my father when he was young. He would come home with big bags of clothes, and we could sift through them, keeping what we wanted.

Everything I owned at that time was second-hand.

I've always thought that clothes are valuable no matter where they come from, whether they're new from the store or second-hand,
hand-me-downs.

It just grew with me. I bought my first sewing machine not so many years ago and started deconstructing clothes.
It's also something I used to do when I was younger.

I love to see the pieces and see how they work, you know, how they function, how they come together as a
puzzle piece.

I realized that you can save old garments that you no longer use,
give them a new breath of life,
and they can become something you love to wear.

Many people buy new clothes because they want that fresh new look, but they also need to learn more about what clothes are made of.
The composition of clothes greatly affects their properties. So, natural fibers are the best in terms of longevity,
better for the environment, pure, natural.

Then there's the battle against Synthetix. Synthetix also has its advantages, such as sportswear, underwear, all of that is made of Synthetix, and it holds up well. But it's not good for the environment, even if you wash it correctly, you get microplastics and whatnot. 

I'm very obsessed with denim.

Norway, I feel, is quite gray. It's quite typical Norwegian to be a bit gray in style. But there are individuals who spread the colors on the streets, yet we tend to keep it simple in clothing style.
We could definitely be a bit more daring.
I feel we could be even more bold, you know.

We do have fashion week and such in Norway, but it's not as big as fashion week in Copenhagen happening now. They resemble us in streetwear, a bit more elevated, I would say. But to associate Norway or Oslo runway fashion week with real style, that would be a goal, to see individuals more colorful, you know. And daring.

I don't think much about brands, really. The only brand I really like is Diesel, but that's more for the denim.

Fashion should be fun, and that's what's so difficult about clothes. You always have to come up with something new, always have to think. Yes, everything should be innovative, everything should be fun. It should excite, you should express individualism. All of that, and then it's hard to draw lines for what is sustainable, what is correct.

Fast fashion, I mean, after the industrial revolution, you know, kicked off, we have sewing machines that speed up the production of clothes. Before, you had the spinning jenny, you had ladies who did their thing, a lot of craftsmanship. Now, you have the industrial revolution, where you can produce on a much larger scale. The way things are now,
click and collect,
everything is so easily accessible.

To think that fast fashion
will disappear,
it won't happen.
Fast fashion is cheap.

It's not going anywhere, but thinking more circular is the next step, for both slow fashion and fast fashion. It's something that can be integrated into both worlds. Slow fashion is nice in that things are not produced in large scales, so in that way, it's a sustainable way of doing things. But you always think big capitalism, that's how things work. Fast fashion has a big problem, and that's a lot of resources going into the production of clothes. And then there's the fact that once an item leaves the store, you don't think about it anymore, you just think about sales and money. But what happens to it? It ends up in landfills.

And to prevent that, you have to close that gap. So, being able to take garments and turn them into something new is an important step in the fight against fast fashion. But it will not eradicate fast fashion; it will always be there. A good counterpoint is slow fashion, upcycling, looking at clothes that already exist as a resource to create something new.

I want to work with clothing repair and
do more upcycling.

The customers contribute with their garments,
and I create new things with them.

I also just work to think more critically about the choices one makes as a consumer. Where the garments come from, what they are made of,
and how to take care of them. It's important to know that everything one owns has value, whether it is high quality, designer, or H&M.

Just taking care of everything one has and thinking that all items are equal in quality and worth is a good step in the right direction. Bringing back old traditions of hand-me-downs and gift-giving, thinking anew. But in the future, it is probably continuing with upcycling.

A tip on how to dress to look a bit better:

I think first, look in the closet, because there's always something there. One should have a good base for any style. And, I don't know, be daring. It's a bit like, try a pop of color, a pop of red, I don't know. Don't be afraid to express yourself, even though the most wearable things are mostly the basics.

But in terms of fashion, you just have to experiment a bit. Try something new.
For some, clothes are just something one must wear for the social construct of things.
While for others, clothes are a way of living, a way of expressing themselves.



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