Zero Waste Weddings is a division of The Brides Project. Our sustainable mission is a direct response to the negative repercussions of traditional garment manufacturing. The fashion industry is notorious for being an enemy of the environment, and the largest contributor is new textile production.
According to CBC.ca on March 6th 2019, the fashion industry is the world’s second most environmentally damaging industry, topping even fracking. That’s pretty horrifying! And needless to say, weddings deservedly get a bad rep for their contributions, given the fact that wedding dresses, bridesmaid dresses and mothers’ outfits are often worn once and then stuffed in a closet. It’s a pretty good bet that you won’t wear your wedding gown again – nor that stash of bridesmaid dresses that you’ve collected from all your friends’ weddings!
At The Brides’ Project, our focus has always been on giving wedding dresses a second (and third, and fourth…) life. Since all our dresses are donated and sold to be reused, they can all be considered ‘zero waste’. However, we decided to take this one step further. EcoChic Bridal is our in-house pet project at TBP, a designer bridal line prioritizing the use of recycled materials. With access to so many beautiful fabrics already existing in many high end designer samples and other donated wedding gowns, we feel good knowing we can give that material a new life and reduce the need for new material production.
While we don’t throw any dresses out, we do receive many that are quite dated, damaged or stained. We’ve also been fortunate to receive fabric scraps, unfinished dresses and other treasures from industry partners that were destined for the landfill. In conjunction with a team of experienced designers with qualifications from Ryerson University’s School of Fashion, George Brown College and other fashion programs, we’ve become pros at breathing new life into these precious gifts. We put our skills to use exploring niche new design techniques for upcycling high-end materials into brand new custom creations. Our innovations in the field of bridal upcycling mean that you would never know that these gowns are created from reused materials, you just get the great pleasure of knowing that your dress is making a difference to save the planet!