To my customers, collectors, and followers: Thank you for your support, and I'm very grateful for all of your business and wonderful feedback.

Amber Studios' individualistic, upcycled, redesigned collection blends art and fashion with storytelling captured in the identity of each and every design. My Steampunk, Woodland, and Nomad collections are conceived from high-end collected materials which I blend to create new garments with new stories all of their own.

The true value of working with used textiles lies in the stories embedded in each material, the honoring of the past, and the history and heritage of every textile. Each one of my designs incorporates intricate surface detailing and texture.

My most frequently asked question is about SIZES. In every listing, I give detailed measurements in inches and centimeters. Please read these! Sizes vary between countries, companies, and even articles of clothing. The American government has been attempting to fix this problem via regulations since the 1940s... (The situation has gotten worse with vanity sizing, when bigger garments are tagged with smaller numbers, and size 00 was introduced to entice customers!)

How did I get into this adventure?

Disheartened by the idea of creating waste and environmental damage while producing fashion, I opened Amberstudios.Etsy.com, where I sell sustainable clothing and accessories for customers who appreciate one-of-a-kind creations. I always try to respect the natural world by upcycling, reusing, and reclaiming materials. I strive for eco-couture in “reincarnated” fashion. While my coats and accessories are made primarily from upcycled and vintage textiles, I occasionally add great fabrics from New York's fabric store "MOOD" to keep my designs more cohesive. See more information and images of my work on my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Amber-studios/544082175614681?ref=hl

If you have any questions about my work, just ask. I'm friendly, hard working and always available to talk with my customers!

I hope you enjoy my designs as much as I enjoy making them.

Thank you for supporting Eco Friendly fashion!
Hugs,
Barbara

See my work featured at the Delaware Art Museum:
https://www.facebook.com/544082175614681/photos/a.544085155614383.1073741826.544082175614681/692256024130628/?type=1

This following information is for Eco Fashion lovers. (For those of you who are interested in Eco Fashion, which you must be if you're still reading at this point!)

Glossary of Eco Fashion:

Biodegradable
A product that is able to break down by biological means and then be reabsorbed into an ecosystem.

Carbon Footprint
The total amount of greenhouse gases that are emitted due to human activity, which are usually displayed in grams, kilograms or tons of carbon dioxide (CO2).

Custom-Made or Tailor-Made
Also called demi-couture or made to order. A classic example is a men’s suit which is made by a tailor who takes body measurements and produces a suit that uniquely fits each individual customer. The reason custom-made items can be considered eco-friendly is because the customer gets exactly what they want, making them more likely to love and use the product for a longer length of time.

Cut-Offs
Excess fabric from the cutting and sewing phase of garment manufacturing. It is often considered waste and is discarded due to its uneven and small formats. Issue: cut-offs generally constitute 25% of the fabric in the cutting and sewing phase. This can be recycled back into fiber production or used as-is for materials for other products.

Fast Fashion
Refers to clothing that has been produced fast and cheap by high street retailers to replicate catwalk trends. Issue: at the end of the 90s, fashion started speeding up as brands looked for new ways in which to increase their profits. With new garments in store on a weekly (or even daily) basis, fast fashion has disrupted the fashion cycle and created a throw-away attitude to clothing.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
The so-called 3R’s that classify waste management according to their order of importance.

Reconstruction
The process of making new clothes from previously worn garments or preformed products.

Recycled
When a waste material or product has been reused and turned into a new usable material or product.

Sustainability
A lasting system or process that meets the current needs as well as preserving for the future.

Sustainable Fashion
Clothing that is produced with respect to the environment and social impacts of its lifespan.

Upcycle
Improving upon something that is intended for the same function. For example, painting old furniture or adding something fun and funky to an existing lamp. The object remains what it was before, with the same function, but now it's better!