MEM Samurai editorial

We shot an eco fashion editorial last December in Helsinki for the most ecological clothing collection in the world, called Samurai, with photographer and our friend Pauli Siuruainen. Paula Malleus (the designer of this collection) had made a few showpieces from the MEM collection pieces and they needed to be presented properly in addition to the lookbook images. I made the hats and accessories and styling for this shoot.

MEM is a modern and avantgarde recycle fashion collection from Finland made entirely from post consumer waste such as old jeans, t-shirts and leather jackets. The SAMURAI pieces, inspired by Japanese samurai armor, focuses on strong shapes and silhouettes paired with a calculated use of layering. Entirely built on denim in a variety of washes and hues or printed with a graphic geometric print, the collection contains dresses, skirts, trousers and tops for everyday use as well as more showy garments, like for instance the evening gown made entirely of denim.

Using old clothes as the collections main material, the Samurai garments have negative MIPS numbers. It means that it saves natural resources, rather than consumes them! Material input per unit of service (MIPS) measures the eco-efficiency of a product or service by taking into account all the materials and resources needed to manufacture it (water, soil, air, minerals).

The environmental impact of this collection is significant. For comparison, a traditionally manufactured new pair of jeans takes almost 10 000 liters of fresh water to produce, which is the equivalent of the water one person drinks in 10 years. This is why Paula does not want to use virgin materials in her collections. We have spent too much on them already. Therefore using post consumer waste as the collection’s main material makes these clothes-to-clothes the most ecological way to make and use fashion.

All the MEM clothes are made locally in Helsinki in Remake EkoDesign atelier.

SAMURAI collection is available at Tictail.

WATER SAVINGS PER PRODUCT:
“KURIN” sleeveless top – 8 200 liters
“WAIDO” flared trousers – 20 400 liters
“TAITO” trousers – 14 300 liters
“KAPE” jacket – 12 200 liters
“TERU” jacket – 8 100 liters
“SAME” skirt – 14 300 liters
“KOHANI” maxi-skirt – 20 400 liters
“NOBASA” tunic dress – 12 200 liters
“TORI” evening dress – 32 700 liters