UPCYCLING INNOVATION
Research + Practice
Sans Soucie is dedicated to producing upcycled textiles from waste hosiery, guided by zero waste principles and creative reuse strategies that position waste as a valuable material resource and an ongoing tool for research.
Our studio began working with waste hosiery (pantyhose) and cast-offs in 2001, when designer Katherine Soucie developed early prototypes during her textile studies at Capilano University in response to witnessing the volume of mill waste generated in everyday production. Since then, Sans Soucie has combined artisanal processes (dyeing, printing, surface design, draping, sewing) with obsolete textile and sewing machinery salvaged from closed factories, treating craft skills as integral to the transformation of waste into new materials and resources within sustainable fashion practices. This approach honours the history of textile and garment making while keeping traditional applications alive in dialogue with contemporary technology.
From 2002–2019, Soucie undertook long-term applied research to rethink and transform Canadian-sourced manufacturing waste hosiery into new textiles for diverse applications. Collaborations with architects, artists, designers, and practitioners in film, TV and performance expanded the reuse of this waste stream beyond fashion.
This work not only extended textile waste reuse into other disciplines and applications but also expanded the role of upcycling to include the reimagined use of older and obsolete machinery. It led to innovative, signature methods that applied creative reuse strategies not only to materials but also to the tools and machinery used to transform them. Together, these methods opened new material pathways and creative applications for waste, forming an upcycling systems approach that was further expanded upon through Soucie’s PhD research at Kingston University.
Selected Stages of Sans Soucie’s Signature Hosiery Upcycling Process
A curated glimpse into select stages of our zero-waste transformation methodology—from sequential dyeing to the reimagined use of retired hosiery machinery to re-assemble strips into a new textile. Photos: Ian Sheh
CREATIVE REUSE STRATEGIES
Textile Waste Design + Sustainable Surface Design Research
Katherine Soucie established her sustainable textile design research and practice in Vancouver as a student in Capilano University’s Textile Arts Program (2001–2003), after completing training in Fashion Design in Canada. The studio was formed as a result of a proprietary textile upcycling process she developed as a student. Her thesis research explored how to create new sustainable textiles and processes using existing technology and textile mill waste.
From this work, her signature upcycled hosiery textile process evolved into an industrial upcycling method, transforming pre-consumer waste hosiery (pantyhose mill waste) from Canadian manufacturers into new textiles, garments, accessories and by-products. Artisanal textile applications and experimental, waste-material-responsive textile development were combined with the reimagined use of older, obsolete machinery as surface design tools. This approach created unique surface textures and design details within the textile reconstruction process.
Beyond the reimagined use of existing machinery, creative reuse and circular strategies were developed in other areas of this upcycling system. The proprietary artisanal dyeing method used metal-free, low-impact dyes and a zero-waste sequential dyeing approach that not only reduced water usage but also eliminated wastewater from the process. Similar approaches were developed for textile printing and other surface design applications, together forming the foundation of this upcycling system.
“I am not doing anything new. I am reimagining the past, giving life to the obsolete and forgotten. I value the skillset and knowledge that has been passed down to me as a maker and as a maker I have a responsibility as to what I put out in the environment. I create new textiles in response to the material waste produced by industry here in Canada and transform modes of production (hand, industrial, digital) into collaborations that allow for past technologies to inform the present. Acting as a guide to creative breakthroughs and new pathways I am constantly researching and developing ways to integrate modern day technology, practices and industry at large to produce hand made textiles in a zero waste manner.”
Katherine Soucie — excerpt from Marilyn Wilson’s Life Outside the Box