Turning Surplus Clothing into Art... Hansome Launches 'Art Up Project'

A textile designer brand 'Pipecomma' that creates pieces by cutting up Hansome's inventory clothing. (Photo by Hyundai Department Store)

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Hansome is presenting a unique upcycling project that creates artworks using surplus clothing and other materials.

Hansome, a fashion specialist company affiliated with Hyundai Department Store Group, announced on the 22nd that it will launch the ‘Art Up Project,’ which transforms waste into artworks through upcycling. Upcycling refers to the process of applying new functions and designs to discarded products or materials to rebirth them as new products.

Hansome’s ‘Art Up Project’ is a compound of the words ‘art’ and ‘upcycling.’ Through collaboration with artists, waste materials such as trees that have reached the end of their life and surplus clothing are upcycled into interior fixtures like hangers and display stands, as well as artworks.

A Hansome representative explained, “The works created through the first Art Up Project are currently showcased at The Hansome House Busan, which recently opened. As a fashion specialist company that values design capabilities, the key point is applying creative design elements to useless waste and sublimating them into artworks.”

For this project, Hansome’s dedicated interior team spent three months discovering professional artists, preparing surplus clothing in suitable materials and colors for artwork production, and holding dozens of conceptual meetings.

The Art Up Project artworks are displayed on the second floor casual section of The Hansome House Busan. The ‘noneloquent (non-functional)’ series by artist Jeongju Lim, which upcycles trees that have reached the end of their life into hangers, tables, and lighting, is used in the main VP zone for displaying major casual brands such as System and SJSJ. On the wall, textile works by the textile designer brand ‘Pipecomma,’ made by cutting up Hansome’s surplus clothing, are exhibited.

Earlier this year, Hansome launched the ‘Carbon Zero (0) Project,’ which upcycles surplus clothing into eco-friendly interior finishing materials (fiber panels). These eco-friendly interior materials were applied to the fitting rooms at The Hansome House Busan.

The total area of the fitting room walls covered with eco-friendly interior materials is approximately 150㎡ (45 pyeong), and the company explained that about 15,000 T-shirts and approximately 3,000 kg of surplus clothing were used.

Hansome is considering applying the Art Up Project to new stores to be launched in the future. In addition to ‘upcycled artworks’ created in collaboration with artists, the company plans to gradually increase the use of eco-friendly interior finishing materials.

A Hansome representative said, “As a leading company in the domestic fashion industry, we will continue to focus our efforts on strengthening sincere eco-friendly management activities to fulfill our social responsibilities.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.