One million textiles saved from landfill: Manrags celebrates with rebrand

Manrags has undergone a rebrand, renaming itself Upparel, to celebrate its milestone of preventing 1 million textiles from ending up in landfill. 

The Aussie business has established itself as a leader in the circular fashion space, becoming the world’s first circular subscription essentials brand and an authority in textile waste prevention. 

Upparel's recycling mission began with a sock recycling program in September 2019, that rewarded consumers for sending their old socks to be upcylced, laundered and donated or transformed into other garments such as beanies and t-shirts. 

Recognising the interest in textile recycling, the business expanded its program to include a wider range of textiles such as clothing, linen and shoes in May this year. 

Fast forward to October 2020 and the millionth textile passed through the business' recycling program, taking the total weight of saved textiles to over 100,000kgs.

Speaking on the achievement, Upparel CEO Michael Elias said the business is thrilled to reach such a significant milestone in less than a year. 

"It feels amazing and we are so so proud! [We achieved this] in less than one year! 

"The future excites us more though, to think what we can achieve in the next 12 months is what motivates the team to continue to pioneer solutions and partner with industry partners to deliver a greater impact," he said. 

Elias added that the business renamed itself to reflect the expansion of the business beyond just men's essentials.  

"When we launched Manrags our purpose was to deliver quality essentials to men around the world and this was achieved having amassed an audience across 70 countries around the world.

"As we have evolved, taken responsibility and stepped up to eradicate textile landfill as well as increased our range of sustainable essentials to men, women and children it was necessary to better represent who we are today through our brand and a name that guides where we are going.

"We’ve pulled our socks up and have stepped up for the benefit of the next generation and pioneered Australia first and unique upcycling program for the apparel and fashion industry. Upparel," he said. 

Co-founder Tina Elias added that the business is working on a range of new launches set to be debuted in the coming months. 

"Expect to see Australia’s first recycled cotton range of essentials and amazing developments in our product offering as we continue on our journey to become more circular.

"We have been inundated with partnership opportunities over the last few months and we have been focussed on getting through our rebrand.

"Over the next few weeks and months, we’ll be announcing major partnerships across the country for our digital and offline recycling programs and launching our very first post-consumer upcycled range," she said.