The upcycled collection
The upcycled collection is a bold celebration of creativity, collaboration, and circular fashion. Created by local designers and makers, this collection transforms non-swappable clothes - items too damaged, outdated, or unloved for The Swapshop - into one-of-a-kind garments with new value and new stories. Every look reflects the unique vision of its maker and the potential of upcycling to challenge the throwaway mindset. Scroll through to meet the creatives and explore their pieces. Find the upcycled collection in the separate section in our stores!
Katharina Spitz
Katharina is a conceptual designer with a background in couture dressmaking. Her practice balances craft, research, and art, exploring new perspectives on pressing social issues through a feminist, material-oriented lens. She investigates themes such as inequality, alienation, and identity in poetic, tactile ways. Her experimental material development emphasizes mindful resource use, valuing imperfection, absence, and transformation.
Matilde Ceccato
Matilde has recently graduated from Fashion Design at AMFI, with fashion playing a central role in her life from an early age. Through her studies and her experience working in The Swapshop, she developed a deep understanding of the fashion industry's environmental impact and the importance of designing with sustainability in mind. She is committed to creating thoughtfully, rather than producing from scratch and adding to the world's existing surplus of clothing.
Nandi Dmyszewicz
From an early age, Nandi was surrounded by making. Her mother crafted clothing with such care that pieces remain cherished decades later. Sewing as a child instilled in her a deep appreciation for garments as carriers of love and heritage. At Willem de Kooning Academy, she resisted using new materials, instead re-purposing discarded denim and exploring natural dyeing. Later, at The Swapshop, she discovered the joy of extending clothing's life and the stories they hold. Today she channels this passion into upcycling.
Andrea van der Kuil
An award-winning production designer, textile artist, writer and maker. Her work explores vulnerability, domestic craft, slow labour, gender performativity, and storytelling, with sustainability at its core. Through embroidery, embellishment, and fabric manipulation, she transforms textiles and garments into new forms. For her, upcycling is both a creative practice and responsibility - an act of care, resistance and renewal.
Georgia Carns
Georgia has a background in Graphic Design and Business, with a strong passion for sustainability and fashion. She has always loved creating with her hands, attending workshops to hone skills in DIY, repair, upcycling, and jewelry making. Her love for upcycling spans clothing, furniture, and accessories, always finding beauty in what others discard - one person's trash is Georgia's treasure. Since joining The Swapshop, Georgia has been at the forefront of addressing textile waste, helping setting up The Swapshop Lab.
Anna Clazina Galema
What began as a therapeutic hobby has grown into a passion for material, creativity, and inspiration. Ans is a one-woman show who creates and upcycles through crocheting, felting, and sewing. She hopes to share this passion, teaching others to reuse items or find peace in their own creative hobbies. During the pandemic and a long recovery, she immersed herself in fiber arts. Her brand continues to grow, inspiring others along the way.
