A fashionista who turns charity shop finds into stylish outfits says her wardrobe is 90 per cent pre-loved – and has made $40k selling on her recycled clothes.
Maddison Gooch, 28, taught herself to sew at aged 12 and has always had a passion for fashion.
She studied fashion merchandising at Western Kentucky university but struggled to find a job after graduating.
After a stint as a veterinary technician she got back into her love of clothes in 2020 and started sharing the clothes she had transformed from thrift stores, charity shops and from Facebook market place.
Maddison alters $10 baggy tops and tapestry to create fashionable two pieces – which she sells on for around $100 – depending on the item.
She keeps lots of her designs for herself and said her wardrobe is 90 per cent pre-loved.
Maddison, a design and content creator, from Louisville, Kentucky, said: “When I was younger I was always drawing fashion sketches.
“I taught myself to sew aged 12.
“I’m showing people they can upcycle their clothes.
“At least 90 per cent of my closet is second hand.
“People say I get lucky at thrift stores. But if you go multiple times a week you’ll find stuff.
Maddison has always loved making her own clothes – after sewing her first dress aged 14.
She became passionate about sustainable fashion when she learnt about the ethics surrounding the industry on her university course.
She said: “I realised how bad the textile industry was at recycling.”
After graduating Maddison found it tough to break into the industry and spent three years working in at a vets before finding her way back to fashion.
She said: “I fell back into fashion.
“It’s my passion.”
She starting selling her upcycled creations, made from second hand clothes, through her Instagram before launching her website in January 2022.
Maddison began focusing on distressing jeans and shorts but now makes dresses, tops and jumpers from charity finds.
She has a budget of $10 to $20 on an item and spends two to five hours transforming each piece before keeping it herself or selling it on.
Maddison said: “I do stuff by eyeballing it.
“Everything I make is one of one.”
She keeps up to date with trends and likes to recreate outfits she spots her favourite celebrities wearing.
Maddison said: “I’m very into pop culture.
“Kim Kardashian and Kourtney have been wearing vintage jeans so I remade a similar pair.”
Maddison loves upcycling jeans and one of her favourite outfits is a black dress which she made from an oversized t-shirt – before gifting to a relative.
She sells on most of her one-of-a-kind clothes – pricing custom tops at $150, and shirts at $75 to $120.
Maddison said: “I love when I go to a bar and someone says ‘I love your jeans where did you get them?’ and I can say I made them.
“I can make someone out of anything.”
Maddison goes to the charity shop at least once a week and has now taken her business full time – making $40k from her upcycled outfits.
She hopes to inspire others to shop more sustainably or learn to upcycle their own clothes.
Maddison Gooch, 28, taught herself to sew at aged 12 and has always had a passion for fashion.
She studied fashion merchandising at Western Kentucky university but struggled to find a job after graduating.
After a stint as a veterinary technician she got back into her love of clothes in 2020 and started sharing the clothes she had transformed from thrift stores, charity shops and from Facebook market place.
Maddison alters $10 baggy tops and tapestry to create fashionable two pieces – which she sells on for around $100 – depending on the item.
She keeps lots of her designs for herself and said her wardrobe is 90 per cent pre-loved.
Maddison, a design and content creator, from Louisville, Kentucky, said: “When I was younger I was always drawing fashion sketches.
“I taught myself to sew aged 12.
“I’m showing people they can upcycle their clothes.
“At least 90 per cent of my closet is second hand.
“People say I get lucky at thrift stores. But if you go multiple times a week you’ll find stuff.
Maddison has always loved making her own clothes – after sewing her first dress aged 14.
She became passionate about sustainable fashion when she learnt about the ethics surrounding the industry on her university course.
She said: “I realised how bad the textile industry was at recycling.”
After graduating Maddison found it tough to break into the industry and spent three years working in at a vets before finding her way back to fashion.
She said: “I fell back into fashion.
“It’s my passion.”
She starting selling her upcycled creations, made from second hand clothes, through her Instagram before launching her website in January 2022.
Maddison began focusing on distressing jeans and shorts but now makes dresses, tops and jumpers from charity finds.
She has a budget of $10 to $20 on an item and spends two to five hours transforming each piece before keeping it herself or selling it on.
Maddison said: “I do stuff by eyeballing it.
“Everything I make is one of one.”
She keeps up to date with trends and likes to recreate outfits she spots her favourite celebrities wearing.
Maddison said: “I’m very into pop culture.
“Kim Kardashian and Kourtney have been wearing vintage jeans so I remade a similar pair.”
Maddison loves upcycling jeans and one of her favourite outfits is a black dress which she made from an oversized t-shirt – before gifting to a relative.
She sells on most of her one-of-a-kind clothes – pricing custom tops at $150, and shirts at $75 to $120.
Maddison said: “I love when I go to a bar and someone says ‘I love your jeans where did you get them?’ and I can say I made them.
“I can make someone out of anything.”
Maddison goes to the charity shop at least once a week and has now taken her business full time – making $40k from her upcycled outfits.
She hopes to inspire others to shop more sustainably or learn to upcycle their own clothes.
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FunTranscript
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00:37 - This is a tutorial on how to make frayed shorts
00:57 from a pair of jeans.
00:59 The first thing I do is turn them inside out
01:01 and take my ruler and measure three inches down
01:05 from the crotch and about 13 inches down from the out seam.
01:10 After this, I make slits.
01:12 I make more of a slit on the outside
01:15 and smaller of a slit towards the inside of the leg.
01:18 And I just measure as I go along to make sure they're even,
01:22 but they don't have to be perfect.
01:24 Once I make slits, I start pulling out the threads.
01:28 Some of them will fall off completely
01:31 and some of them will stay.
01:33 Here's a better view.
01:35 As you can see, I take my tweezers and I just pull.
01:39 It doesn't matter if it's a thread from the top
01:42 that runs horizontally,
01:45 or if it's a thread from the bottom that runs vertically.
01:48 You just pull at whatever you can get
01:51 because the end goal is to just pull them all out
01:54 until the bottom parts are frayed
01:58 and they're just kind of hanging there.
02:03 So the pieces that run side to side,
02:05 you can see that I kind of just pull those out
02:08 and just throw them away.
02:09 You won't need those because the up and down threads
02:13 are gonna be the ones that stay and flare out.
02:16 I keep doing this sometimes with my fingers.
02:21 Most of the time, tweezers are an easier option,
02:25 but you can use either one, whatever is fastest for you.
02:30 It is kind of tedious,
02:33 but once you get most of the threads out,
02:35 it's gonna look like this.
02:37 And since we made a bigger slit on the end
02:41 than towards the middle,
02:43 there will be some that you have to pull out
02:46 and they won't all the way come out.
02:48 So you just pull them as much as they will go.
02:52 As you can see here, it kind of stops where my fingers are
02:55 and I pull them and just let them hang there.
03:00 That way, they will even themselves up.
03:03 As long as you keep pulling the threads as you go,
03:07 it will be a gradual line
03:10 because even though the next section
03:13 doesn't have as much height,
03:14 see how it all blends together.
03:17 When you're done pulling the threads with your tweezers,
03:19 you put them in the washer
03:21 and then you put them in the dryer.
03:23 And when they come out, they'll look like this.
03:25 I made a few slits and cut the waistband on these too.