Trashion

I'm addicted to Etsy, the online marketplace for crafters and artists. The site has all sorts of cool features to help you browse through the astonishing amount and variety of handcrafted items. Sellers routinely take turns compiling favorites and present a lovely mosaic of Hand-picked items on the site's front page. The "Pounce" feature allows you to see recently sold items and similar items still for sale in individual stores. Featured Sellers, Main Showcase, and themed Showcases (right now a Mother's Day Showcase is on tap) are other ways to browse the virtual showrooms.

Etsy sellers can also organize into "Teams" based on related interests. One team that caught my eye recently is the Trashion Team, a group of Etsy makers dedicated to creating wearable art from materials that otherwise would be destined for the landfill. According to their mission statement:

Trashion is a philosophy and an ethic. It encompasses environmentalism and innovation, and respects the human creative and healing potential. Making traditional objects out of recycled materials can be trashion. Making avant-garde fashion out of cast-offs or junk can be trashion.

The refashioning that I've been doing lately certainly falls under this rubric, and it's inspiring to see so much beautiful, usable, and generally pretty affordable stuff being created from junk. Here are a few of my current favorite trashion items available on etsy:

(Clockwise from upper left) Goldfish baby booties made from a Goldfish cracker box by MoJoTrashion. Spinning Flower pendant made from a domino by papermoondesigns. Green and orange upcycled plastic bangle made from plastic bags by GarbageofEdenDesign (today's Featured Seller). Kinglet coin purse made from vinyl banner remnants by birdversusbird. Recycled skirt by Little Overcoat. Orange carnation flower pin made from t-shirts by Marang97.