Appcycled, the start-up that promotes the circular economy

It is the first upcycled fashion marketplace, founded a year and a half ago to respond to clothing needs that are increasingly attentive to waste. In fact, upcycling is the most advanced form of recycling because it uses scraps of leather and fabrics and inventories to give them new life and transform them into highly creative garments and accessories. The start-up connects companies that have these surplus materials and the designers and craftsmen who use them to build new products. On the platform, you can also find for sale the creations of designers who have made upcycling their hallmark to offer unique and sustainable garments.

“Fashion today produces around 80 billion garments a year” – says Diletta Pollice, founder and CEO of Appcycled – “and every second the equivalent of the contents of a truck full of textile waste is thrown into landfills or incinerated. So, I thought of creating this platform to simplify creative recycling and invest in designers who reuse fabrics and materials that would end up polluting in landfills. In addition to online options, we also organise the sale of garments through temporary shops. We have already opened four in Milan. As far as footwear and trousers are concerned, we show a prototype which is then packaged made-to-order”. We have also presented shoes made with recycled Europcar uniforms.

Appcycled was one of the four start-ups hosted at Micam in the area called ‘Italian Start Up’, dedicated to new projects for footwear and created in collaboration with Startupbootcamp and with the support of ICE and MAECI.

Vaer Upcycled sneaker made with recycled Europcar uniforms and tablecloths