Interview: Nicole McLaughlin - Upcycling from Waste to the Fashion Industry

Based in New York, Nicole McLaughlin developed an interest in the manufacturing methods and associated waste in the fashion industry through her experience as a graphic designer at Reebok. Self-taught in sewing and other techniques, she started her own studio and has been creating upcycled works such as turning volleyballs into slippers, camera bags into bralettes, and Haribo gummy packaging into board shorts. While using a humorous and inventive approach, she effectively conveys the message of sustainability, significantly contributing to raising awareness about waste issues and sustainable design.

Can you please tell us a bit about yourself? What do you currently do, and what did you do before?

My name is Nicole McLaughlin and I am a designer focused on upcycling! My background is in graphic design, but over the past 5 years I’ve worked as a full-time artist/designer and brand consultant.

My design journey began in 2016 at Reebok where I worked as a graphic designer. During my time in corporate fashion I became very interested in how clothes and shoes were made. I also became aware of how much waste was in the fashion industry. I decided to teach myself how to sew by taking discarded footwear and clothing samples, disassembling them, and then reassembling them. 

In 2019 I left to pursue my own business and now I collaborate and consult with companies from all industries to help them find solutions for their excess materials/returned product/and samples.

Do you remember the first time you experimented with fabric or other materials? When was it, and how did it come about? (it doesn't need to have been a presentable/final design or anything, just the first time you experimented!)

The first time I ever experimented with materials I was in elementary school. I made clothes for my Barbies and Bratz dolls using paper towels! It’s crazy to think that in 2017, 13 years later, I would use packaging (from Dover Street Market tissue paper) to create a shirt—the first project I made that inspired the work I do today.

Designing and making things seem to be a part of your upbringing. We read that your mother, father, and grandfather were an interior designer, carpenter, and engineer, respectively. How do you think their professions shaped you? Can you share a memory of making something with them?

My upbringing definitely shaped who I am today as a creative. I come from a long line of problem solvers and my family has played a big role in my design journey.

Some of my earliest memories are sitting in the backseat of the car next to office chairs and bags full of carpet samples while my mom dropped me off at school before heading to work.

I spent a lot of time in my grandfather’s woodshop making rudimentary ‘wood sculptures’. I also vividly remember pinching my finger in a vice which taught me a valuable lesson; never do that again haha.

We're extremely curious about your creative process. Do you follow a linear and structured process—like material sourcing, idea development, prototyping, and testing—or is your work the result of spontaneous experimentation? Has your process changed over the years?

It’s a bit of both. Sometimes I have an idea for a project and then the challenge begins of where I can find the materials I need to create it, whether that’s a thrift store, eBay, or even my own house.

Other times I’m presented with a material and I need to get to know it, and decide what would be the best path for its transformation.

This process hasn’t really changed since I first started, but it has gotten a lot easier and faster to decide what I can make and how to begin making it.

You use a wide range of items very familiar to everyone in your artwork. Are you attentive to your surroundings in your daily life looking for ideas and inspiration?

I try to be very aware in my day to day life to take note of the objects I use and try to challenge myself to think “is there another use for this?” I tend to gravitate towards items that feel familiar because anyone can resonate with the concept. I also love to prove to myself that there is still so much life left and untapped opportunities for the objects in our lives. A lot of the time we are quick to get rid of something if it can no longer serve its purpose or function rather than trying to reframe it and look at it in a different way.

After working with various materials over the years, are there specific characteristics you seek in a material? Have you ever purposedly challenged yourself going into uncomfortable water to work with an unfamiliar material to see where it leads?

Unconventional materials get me the most excited because a lot of the time it’s not a straightforward path. I know from experience that materials like food don't do so well in the sewing machine. I want to make sure they’re still edible afterwards, so I have found ways of using baker’s string and skewer sticks to hold projects together.

I like the challenge of working with non-traditional materials. It has opened up so many more opportunities than only using cotton or poly fabrics. 

You've mentioned to FUTUREVVORLD that you use humour to reach a wide audience and spark conversations. (That’s exactly how your work reached me and spoke to me!) On a different note, you seem very comfortable associating yourself, your identity, and your body with your work, for example in how you use social media. How do you perceive this association? Is there a parallel to how you use humour by any chance?

Humour has been a way for me to reach such a wide audience. I love that my work can make people laugh and bring them together. I love to have fun and I personally resonate with art that feels cheeky/can make me smile.

In real life I can feel a bit shy at times and not always the most confident, but for some reason I feel comfortable and confident in sharing my humour and ideas online, as well as using my body as my mannequin. 

I think I really unlocked something in myself when I learned how to express my ideas through a physical form of art. I don’t know if my words can always explain what I’m thinking as well as my work does.

When we think of an activist, we often imagine someone advocating through marches and speeches. However, in my opinion, your work embodies a form of activism through art. Would you consider yourself an activist? If so, how do you balance being a conceptual artist and a sustainability activist?

I believe we all should advocate for the things we feel passionately about. I’ve found my voice through creating art. My work is fun and light hearted, but the deeper message and the throughline is sustainability advocacy. It’s about empowering people that they have the opportunity and the right to repair or reimagine garments. 

For many years (at least in the US) it has felt like clothing and footwear companies don’t want consumers to know how to fix things when they break. They’ve hidden the process so much from us to convince us it’s too challenging to repair something, all because they wanted us to continue to buy new things from them.

This frustrates me because it actually isn’t that difficult to repair a lot of things, it’s not usually very time consuming, and it would save us so much money—not to mention keeping items out of landfills. Having the skills and being taught to repair vs. just throwing something away is so valuable.

I find myself to be the middle-man between the big companies and us everyday people. 

Brands feel comfortable sharing the process and their learnings with me, and I’ve made it my responsibility to try to relay this information back to a wider audience in hopes to make it feel more digestible/achievable and give them visibility to what is going on.

It was inspiring to read about your collaborations with brands, showing them the potential of using deadstock and overstock materials. While you share a lot of knowledge with these brands, what have you been learning from them? (such as about logistics, supply chains, or fighting for sustainability in big corporate?)

Every opportunity to partner or work with a brand helps me gather more data around reusing waste at scale.

In my studio I create one of a kind pieces using materials that are deemed useless. I don’t have the bandwidth to create factory quantities—and that is by design. My pieces were never meant to be scaled. I think there is something special about my one-of-one creations and knowing that there aren’t multiple out there in the world.

However, using my practice as a blueprint for larger companies has become a mission of mine. It has been so valuable for me to work with them to understand why upcycling has been notoriously difficult to scale. Being able to understand the entire lifecycle of a product helps to pinpoint where my ethos can potentially help.

A lot of what I’ve been learning recently is around designing for deconstruction or how to create something that can easily be taken apart at a factory. The less complicated a piece is, and the fewer types of materials, the easier it will be to disassemble later down the line. This is simple in theory, but isn’t always practised. Most products, especially shoes, are made with so many different components most companies cannot justify the time or resources it would take to disassemble each piece. 

I’ve recently been exploring ways to streamline the deconstruction process as well as mono materials and no-cut reconstruction.

I’ve recently been exploring ways to streamline the deconstruction process as well as mono materials and no-cut reconstruction.

You organize workshops and founded a non-profit organization that provides design resources to youth. You seem passionate about passing on your skills and knowledge. Long-term teaching could sound like an activity that could be helpful in achieving that. Is that something that could interest you?

The future for me will always be education. No matter where my career takes me I have found my purpose through teaching others. I could see myself teaching at a university some day or having my own ‘school’ for workshops/hands on making experience.

We're always curious about people's music tastes! Could you share your favorite tracks or songs you've been listening to recently?

I love hardcore music, indie, house music, and Japanese city pop!When I’m on long bus/train rides I listen to a few techno/house mixes like these ones:

 

 

When I used to work at Reebok, we would go on factory trips in parts of China and Vietnam. We had long 4-6 hour bus rides from the airport to the factories. At the time (around 2016-2018) I was listening to a lot of techno so it’s very nostalgic to me to play these especially when I’m on a long bus or train ride.

I really like to listen to house music while I work—it keeps me focused.

Has anything or anyone from Japan personally inspired you or your work?

There are so many! I love going to Japan. I get a lot of inspiration from Japanese magazines, street style, mountain style, video games, etc.

I think Japanese design is very well thought out. I love practical design, so I get a lot of inspiration from it. But at the same time, I'm also fascinated by the culture of Chindugu, or tools that look useful at first glance but are actually very humorous and have very little practical use.

I would love to work with and wander one day ! I love the outdoors and nature, and they are a brand that has influenced me for a long time!

Your work reminds me of Ilaria Blanchi’s “Castaway Furniture” series, where she created furniture from reclaimed materials found on the streets of London. As a big admirer of your talent, I can imagine you applying your skills to larger scales, formats, and mediums. While I’m aware you have also created furniture in the past, do you have a strong affinity in clothing? or are you also interested in expanding your artistic vocabulary towards other scales, formats, and/or mediums in the future?

Such a cool reference!

Definitely—I’ve been finding ways of evolving my work outside of fashion and applying it to different mediums like furniture/interiors/homewares. 

Behind the scenes I’ve been learning some new skills like woodworking and soldering. I think developing these skills will help me be able to rework less malleable materials and expand my range. 

This might be an unusual question, but I'm very curious: do you ever feel the desire to create something from scratch without considering the upcycling aspect of your work?

I love this question haha I don’t think anyone has ever asked me that.

To be honest, not really. When I look at a blank virgin piece of fabric it doesn’t give me the same inspiration as looking at something with pockets, zippers, holes or tears in it. I think I’m addicted to the challenge of reconfiguring something. I love the stories that an existing garment or material holds—I just don’t get the same feelings when starting from scratch.

Do you have any upcoming work you are currently finalising that you haven’t announced yet and could give us a teaser for?

I have a collab coming out later this year that is the closest I’ve been able to get to upcycling at scale! I’m so excited for it to be released and for all the learnings that have come for it :)

Nicole McLaughlin: Web / Instagram

Interviewer: Tsukasa Tanimoto