The No Bull Cause is a clothing brand that makes no new clothes. I take the clothes you don’t want and turn them into something you do. I do this by fixing, dying, printing and rebranding garments. There’s enough clothes out there, but people need to start wearing them. Sustainable self expression: No Bull.

Many young designers print designs on blank clothes but few have seen the positive potential that it could have on the environmental and society. People buy 60% more clothes than they did 15 years ago but wear each item 50% less before it no longer holds value to them. What if your clothes evolved over time instead of becoming waste?

I wanted to explore ways that trash could be transformed into treasure. I used my fine art and graphic design knowledge to create unique designs to be printed on wasted fashion garments. The designs feature trash found in and around Melbourne’s CBD, changing peoples relationships with trash.
I realised that if I could use design to sell waste back to people, I could clean up the environment and create art at the same time.

That’s just one of the innovative ideas that The No Bull Cause brings to the table.
Another is the store concept. I want to create a tattoo parlour for clothes. People bring in their clothes that they no longer use (instead of throwing them to landfill) they point out what design they would like added to their clothing to add value back. It’s printed while they wait, re-branded and given back to them. No need to produce new clothes when there are millions sitting in peoples wardrobes at home. People want change, but that doesn’t have to cost the earth. The fashion industry is the third most pollutive industry in the world behind fuel and agriculture. Clearly the way things are done now is not the way they should be done forever.

I sourced the waste garments from op shops and donations to me. I then dyed the garments black or blue to delete their previous pigments and some of their graphics. I then used custom silk screens to print the new, No Bull Cause designs onto them. Finally I relabelled them with 3 labels each, a new size tag, a hem tag and a label with all the information of the brand. I photographed them on models and documented each piece and uploaded them to www.nobullcause.au.

The transformations from unwanted fashion waste to new, boutique items had a strong impact on people and I have since been able to sell the garments at pop-up shops and markets around Melbourne. I won an award for my year at uni for the project and am currently in talks with local sustainable brands like Unwanted FC and Into Carry about working together. I set a very small budget for the project. I was able to create an entire clothing brand plus 100+ unique clothing items for under $1500. As part of the communication, marketing and research for the brand, I created a podcast which aims to discuss sustainability and ethics in business. I have had 6 guests so far who have all been in the start up and sustainability space. Listening and learning from them has been invaluable and has allowed me to communicate my ideas, not just to them but a wider audience around the world.

Through my previous work with sustainability start ups and having studied communication design for 5 years I know how important branding is in securing peoples trust in a product. The No Bull Cause uses pre-loved clothes as its canvas. By exploring what value actually is to consumers I can re-communicate how trash is perceived through good design and branding. I took the “Lord of the Fries” approach when creating The No Bull Cause. I didn’t want the sustainability factors to be immediately obvious. I didn’t want people to be guilted into buying the product, I wanted them to buy into it because they genuinely liked it. This extended to the brand. It’s a sterile, symbol driven identity which is meant to abolish pre-conceptions that pre-loved and second hand clothes are dirty and unhygienic. The brand is meant to rival and emulate the likes of Supreme, Champion and Stussy. Just as “Lord of the Fries” is 100% vegan but doesn’t make that clear through its branding and marketing, I wanted the No Bull Cause to be zero waste without it being it’s primary selling point.

All inks and dyes used are eco friendly and very high quality and the product is not shipped internationally or even inter-state. If people want it they have to come to the advertised pop-up stores and markets. This means that protective packaging doesn’t have to be produced and the carbon footprint is reduced drastically. The clothes are designed, dyed, printed and photographed all in the same room, further reducing the carbon emissions. This project has become my vocation and I plan on expanding it to the UK via franchising. Starting in Bristol, I have two very goo design friends producing the clothes with waste garments found in and around Bristol and Bath. The designs and process are the same which means that if people in the UK want the brand, they don’t have. to ship it from Australia. In the future I want to open these clothing franchises throughout the world, abolishing shipping and clearing up local environments and communities at the same time.

This is a No Bull cause and it’s only the beginning of a wider movement toward a circular economy.
My mission is to change how waste is communicated through design, with minimal additional resource expenditure to create a closed loop system where all materials are valued and nothing is wasted.