Make The Old New Again With Upcyclers

Gia Carrascoso was born and raised in Cebu City, Philippines. This is where she began her upcycling journey. Gia started upcycling in the 80s (before upcycling was cool), making adjustments to get her sister's old clothes to fit her. 

As she grew up, she had a dream of moving to NYC and attending the Fashion Institute of Technology, but, coming from the Philippines, this was very expensive. In 2005, Gia made her way to California. Here, she stumbled upon a fashion school in downtown LA where she was able to complete the fashion design program in just one year. In 2013, she launched her first line. Her designs have been worn by many celebrities, including Maye Musk, Vivica A. Fox and Jeannie Mai. 

In 2023, Gia realized how detrimental the fashion industry can be and the intense overproduction the industry faces. Throughout her designs, she had sprinkled in a few upcycled pieces, but in 2023, she released her first fully upcycled line. 

Throughout her experience as an upcycler, Gia saw the extreme lack of infrastructure in this space. Designers were using multiple platforms such as Depop, Etsy, and eBay to sell their work, going back and forth between these selling platforms. She also realized the lack of shared knowledge in this space and thought, there has to be a way to bring upcycling to everyone. 

I was lucky to get a chance to meet Gia at FIT’s 20th annual Sustainable Business and Design Conference. Here, she spoke on a panel with two other avid upcyclers, Janelle Abbot (JRAT) and Kate Sekules (Dr. Mend). 

As you can see from the photo below, Gia wore one of her favorite upcycles to the conference. A piece that was once an old denim jacket now has a new life with her as a fabulous coat. 

While talking with Gia, I asked her how upcycling changes her viewpoint as a designer. She told me simply, " It’s just more fun. Gia finds upcycling addictive; there are no rules in upcycling, and every piece she creates is one of a kind. She also added that there are an infinite number of ways to upcycle, “you don’t have to know how to sew… Do you have a glue gun… Do you paint?... in upcycling, anything goes.” 

Zero-waste is also very important to Gia, as it is to anyone who knows the impact that the fashion industry's waste has on the environment. She is sure to use every piece and even has boxes of scraps split by color in her studio. This way, every item that comes into her possession gets a full second life, reducing the truckload of garment waste that the industry produces every second. 

Factories need to stop overproducing, “I wish I had a magic wand,” Gia said, hoping she could simply force these massive brands to quit making all these low-quality products in massive quantities. However, she did point out that there is hope. In California, the SB 707 bill was passed and will force clothing manufacturers to be responsible for the end of life of their garments. 

I also asked Gia what her all-time goal for upcyclers was, and she talked about a dream workshop. She wants to build a community of upcyclers, full of people who support each other among the chaos of the fashion world. Upcyclers is just that. It’s a space for people from all over the world to learn from one another while also having a platform on which they can sell their upcycled goods. 

Gia said that one day she would love to have a physical location where people can come together and share materials, techniques, and ideas. Gia’s mission is something that resonates deeply with me and many others in the industry who know about the huge waste problem but also know how it's not something just one person can face alone. 

This is why Upcyclers is such an important platform, bringing people from all walks of life together to fight the overproduction that the fashion industry faces. 

Please check out upcyclers.com ! Right now, through June 26th, they are doing a #zerowastechallenge where anyone can post their upcycles for a chance to win $500 ! 

Thanks for reading

-AJ :)

5/1/26