Brands To Know: WAySTEaD
The up-cycled streetwear brand you need on your radar
Launched this year in January, Japanese born brand WAySTEad stormed onto the scene with their unique and cutting edge streetwear, created out of commercial wasted products. With the motto of ‘turning waste into treasure’, the team is built up of talented Japanese textile artisans who use nylon from hot air balloons, unexploded airbags, excess seatbelts and old plastic bottles to create each garment. The production of these nylon fabrics releases the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide into the atmosphere, while the disposal of them through decomposition takes 30-40 years, with incineration releasing a cocktail of toxic gasses into the air. While it’s known for these fabrics to be difficult to up-cycle, the talented WAySTEaD designers have taken the challenge head on, having created forward thinking and innovative designs, taking inspiration from the fabrics original form as well as incorporating 80’s consumer culture aesthetics.
Where did the idea to up-cycle fabrics used for hot air balloons and seatbelts come from? About this, I could only say that it happened to come to my mind. When I decided I wanted to build an up-cycling fashion label, somehow, hot air balloons became an option immediately. Maybe I didn't want to use materials which are already used by other labels. It was less about the original product, like hot air balloons but with more focus on the problem of disposal. I just thought, how can I make impressive products out of waste. The idea of using seatbelts and airbags came later in the same way.
As a brand and design team, what’s your background? I started my career as a fashion stylist in 2011 after assisting for four years. And then I switched my role into photography after I moved to Dubai from Tokyo in 2016. In 2018 I came back to Tokyo, and established my company called TELLERS inc. which is a media company representing social issues in a creative way. And WAySTEaD is running as a part of that company. So I have a styling and photography background but have not been trained in fashion design. I have a partner in the brand called Yohji Ohno, formerly part of the team at Yohji Yamamoto, he is a fashion designer and production manager who handles the production side of the brand.
Are there any existing brands you take design inspiration from? Not specifically. I am very inspired by 80s and 90s mass products and companies like burger chains, toys, TV commercials etc. Producing up-cycled products is almost like denying mass production and mass consumption within society, but they’re aesthetic visually and their place in society is undeniable so I just want to preserve.
I really like how you keep the aesthetic of the fabrics original form in the coat design elements - the hot air balloon style coats and the seat belts turned into racer jackets. Was this a conscious decision from the start? Definitely. I wanted to utilise their features as a source of new creativity. If I'm creating pieces without utilising their own characteristics, then I'm just selling an ethical concept. That means the products will be distributed to people who only want to buy into sustainable brands, which is not my sole purpose. What I want to do is let someone who is not necessarily interested in up-cycling or buying the product for that reason, to purchase our products because of the design or aesthetics.
Is it a difficult venture to create new items from old materials? What would you say to brands that don’t explore this option? Yes it is. It's tough, even I have doubts. I spent lots of sleepless nights trying to finalise these products. For small labels like us it's not always profitable and definitely not an easy operation. I would rather say to consumers to stop consuming products that will be disposed of in a year or so. Buy into up-cycling or sustainable brands and think about vintage as an option too.
Where do you see your brand going in the future? My dream is to transform the waste in the world into treasures. Hopefully I can create a full collection with a variety of different materials in the near future. Right now I'm planning to create tops out of disposed LAN cables.
Click here to visit the official WAySTEad website.