From Trash To Treasure: Up-Cycling Of Discarded Loosened Faux Hair To Footwear For Fashion Purposes

Abstract

Lately, artificial hair extensions have become important fashion accessory to many females. They are employed to enhance most peoples’ looks by attaching onto natural hair. They are manufactured few companies that see them as a thriving business since many people need them. In Nigeria, the number of users increases during the festive periods because many females will like to be identified with braided artificial hair. The prices double during this period. However, it has been observed that in as much as they are expensive, they are discarded after a single use. As a result, the waste becomes a problem to the built environment. Since most are synthetic, when discarded in refuse dumps, they are not biodegradable. Therefore, this study argues that since these hair attachments have the same compositions as some other synthetic fibers which could be up-cycled, they could be woven with the aid of a loom into re-usable items, which will go a long way to reduce the number sent to the landfills. In this manner, they could be sustained so as not to pose some threats to human beings in the environment. This is qualitative research and it used the studio based experimental method. Photographs are used as research instruments for documenting the studio exploration. It employed the cradle-to-cradle design concept and ethical fashion concept for analysis. One of the findings is that the hair extensions wastes were appropriate for weaving a synthetic fabric that was used to make footwear. It concludes with the view that the rubbish (used faux hair) should be up-cycled to benefit mankind.

Keywords: Up-cycling, Sustainability, Artificial hair, Fashion design, Built environment.