Goethe V&A Sustainable Fashion Resident

Arianna Nicoletti

The Goethe-Institut and the V&A set out to find a German-based sustainable fashion and textile design resident who works with sustainable materials or processes such as e.g. circular economy or zero-waste design.

Arianna Nicoletti is a Berlin-based fashion designer and entrepreneur working within the field of sustainable fashion with a focus on circular systems for textiles. Her work is influenced by the perceived worthlessness of materials and products and aims to disrupt the system both at an industry and individual consumer level. She is the co-founder of the fashion label Aluc, the concept store The Upcycling Fashion Store and the non-profit association Future Fashion Forward, all in Berlin.
 

© Chiara Bonetti Arianna Nicoletti, you claim that textiles and materials are often worthless in our society. Why is that?

Today the clothes we buy are often cheaply produced and are low in quality. Over the past 30 years, globalisation and industrial developments shaped today’s fast fashion system. [...]

[...] How could for instance your “Upcycling Fashion Store” in Berlin change the way consumers think about the sources of their clothes?

The store was a great place where people came in and informed themselves about upcycling fashion. Some were curious, what the term meant, others asked more critical questions: Why are these clothes so expensive, even though they are recycled? Why should a scarf made from leftovers of men’s suits cost over 100 euros? [...]

Find all questions and Arianna's answers here.


A collaboration between the V&A and the Goethe-Institut London.