Today we’d like to introduce you to Camille Rustia.
Camille, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
As someone who has worked in entertainment my entire career, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that watching one documentary would change the way I consumed fashion and compel us to start an eco-conscious lifestyle brand. Storytelling is such a powerful tool, and actually seeing the mountains of textile waste and water pollution caused by churning out fast, cheap fashion trends made me realize there had to be a better way to make beautiful clothes. “The True Cost” documentary spoke directly to me–a shopaholic who bought a lot of cheap clothing, wore it a few times, then donated it. I never thought about the approximately 715 gallons of water it takes to produce the cotton needed for just one t-shirt, or the fact that that is equivalent to almost three years’ worth of drinking water. I also never thought about the lives of the garment workers (mostly women) who make far less than a living wage in order to serve up those $9.99 tank tops. Blown away with this newfound knowledge, I had to share the documentary with my entire family including my co-founders– my sister, Chrislynn and my cousin, Marly. We each came away from it a little depressed but empowered to make a difference.
Almost immediately, the three of us began thrift shopping for interesting patterns and natural fabrics to start Ukay LA. So many of these donated clothes were in great shape but were probably abandoned because of their dated silhouettes. Our challenge was to upcycle these items into new pieces that could be loved for many more years. With FIDM graduate and Lucky Brand designer Marly Kluge at the helm as our Creative Director, we started to turn these discarded items into one-of-a-kind statement pieces. Our love of the ocean and all things tropical comes from our Filipino heritage and SoCal upbringing and you can feel that colorful, breezy vibe come through in our designs.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The process of making each upcycled item is slow but filled with love. We spend hours sifting, cleaning, mending and hand sewing many of our pieces, so scaling doesn’t happen at the same pace as a traditional clothing company that manufactures in bulk. Since we make new items from existing clothing, we can’t make mistakes because we run the risk of running out of fabric! We’ve begun to scale by adding so many of the great vintage pieces that we find during the thrifting process into our collection. They can live a second life in any modern wardrobe by simply styling them with updated accessories. We carefully curate these timeless garments so our customers can build a unique wardrobe without adding to the environmental harm of fast fashion.
Please tell us about Ukay Ukay LA.
Before we started Ukay LA, I personally tried to shop at companies that either use deadstock fabric (i.e., unsold, surplus fabric) or manufacture their clothing locally, but I wasn’t quite vibing with their styles. I loved what these companies stood for, but they generally had a neutral color palette or loose silhouette, and neither of those things went with my “more is more,” eclectic aesthetic.
While we do sell some staples, we are really known for the bold colors and playful prints that dominate our statement pieces. Each upcycled piece is made from pre-loved fabric that we have sourced by hand. I think a lot of Americans are becoming more conscious of the environmental harm caused by fast fashion, and they want to buy vintage or secondhand, but they don’t have the time or patience to spend hours sifting at a thrift store. It isn’t easy to search for something specific like vintage Levi’s or the perfect dress to wear to a party. We’ve taken the work out of thrifting, so it is as easy to shop online for pre-loved or upcycled items as it is to buy something new.
We are really proud of curating clothes that are unique and beautiful while staying committed to sustainability–it is something we consider every step of the way.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
If I had to start over, I would definitely be more strategic about how I thrift. I used to get really excited and buy lots of clothing because I wanted to work with the prints and patterns. I didn’t really consider if the item was made of enough fabric to be upcycled into a new design. It is all a learning process, but a critical ingredient to our success has been family. I know it sounds hokey, but it is true! One of our biggest inspirations is our mother because of her wicked sense of fashion and her insistence on buying quality pieces. She taught me to wrap myself in cashmere when I’m sick and to spend more on comfortable (but still stylish) shoes. She wrinkles her nose at synthetic materials and has always taught us to try to mend our clothing instead of just dumping it and buying something new. The three of us grew up playing in her walk-in closet. Actually…we still do that. She is the original upcycler–as a petite woman, she often made long sleeves short and did all sorts of tailoring voodoo to make a piece work for her instead of letting it wear her. Now when we have photoshoots, our girls help out by arranging accessories and giving their input. It’s has always been a family affair.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ukayla.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ukay.la/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Ukay-Ukay-Los-Angeles-103120937798283/
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