Laura Zabo - Sustainable Fashion

Aim

The mission is to reduce tyre waste by educating people to wear unique and sustainable upcycled fashion.

ZABO is a sustainable fashion accessory brand that creates handmade, cruelty-free and eco-friendly goods - from reclaimed bicycles, car tyres and inner tubes. These upcycled products provide high-quality accessories to the eco-conscious market whilst providing a positive impact on the planet. 

IT'S YOUR TIME TO BECOME ECO-CONSCIOUS 

Over the past 100 years, we have caused a lot of harm within our planet, which is affecting our daily life – as well as our future. We need to alter our behavior so that we can make a change. 

I am Laura Zabo and I hope to see a positive impact of recycling rubber tyres with regards to fashion and accessories. By using creativity and imagination to create sustainable items made out of scrap, I am using this crowd-funding platform to raise awareness for my handmade, eco-friendly and cruelty-free products*.

Each item is made out of car/ bicycle tyres and inner tubes. I believe that tyres have endless possibilities in which we can reuse them to create something new so there is no limit to what we can make out of abandoned tyres. The neglected rubber has been repurposed into stylish accessories, such as belts, jewellery, handbags, dog leads, guitar straps, shoe soles and footwear which are suitable for anyone!

ALMOST 1 BILLION WASTED TYRES EVERY YEAR 

Scrap tyres are becoming a tremendous problem for our planet with over one billion waste tyres generated every year. They are incredibly difficult to break down and often end up clogging up landfill sites. 

Unrecycled tyre waste is an enormous global problem because of their non-biodegradability, their flammability (see tyre fires) and their chemical composition that leads to leaching of toxic substances into the ground on dumping and hazardous fumes on incineration. In 2008 around one billion ELTs were being produced globally each year with an estimated further four billion already in stockpiles and landfills. Global production in 2008 was about 1.5 billion new tyres.**

source : www.etrma.org

Instead of polluting the planet with more and more waste, we need to think of innovative ways of repurposing “waste” materials into useful products.

THE STORY OF LAURA ZABO

I got the inspiration from my life-changing trip in Tanzania where I witnessed the idea of making sandals out of rubber tyres in a Maasai market. I knew immediately that I could help to spread the message. I loved the idea that functional products can be created out of ‘trash’.  

Right now on landfills there are billions of worn or rejected tyres going to waste, which could be put to good use. By doing so, we also help clean up this increasingly problematic scrap material from our planet, transforming it into something useful and desirable.

I chose to create these fashionable items out of reusable treads because tyres are great substitutes for leather and plastic. The ZABO items are durable, making the accessories hard wearing. Every item is unique due to the different patterns and each recycled tyre is helping the environment.

rejected and  worn bicycle tyres  repurposed into fashion accessories

(belts,  dog  leads and collars, guitar straps, handbags ) 

ZABO not only creates upcycled tyre products, but also provides a solution for the future of these “end- of-life” products. The brand offers a discount to buyers who send back their old or disused ZABO items, instead of throwing them away. In this way we can continue to upcycle these tires, so that the waste is minimized as much as possible.

Car tyre shoe soles and sandals

Inner tube jewellery and clothing

Every purchase is making a difference because it raises awareness to eco-conscious consumption and sustainable fashion. With a little bit of creativity, together, we can help make a real difference to the planet, tyre by tyre!

I hope to be able to upcycle 100'000 tyres by 2020, so that more sustainable fashion accessories can be created. I have already used over four tonnes of scrap tyres and approximately 5'000 of which were rejected and donated by Schwalbe – the German tyre manufacturer. 

( 2016 october , I received tonnes of tyres from Schwalbe)

Evidently, I hope to expand my business so that less waste is produced (and more is recycled) in order to compete with high street trends. The overall mission is to see a movement where more sustainable items can tell a story, through using our creative mind.  

You become the change when you become part of this eco mission!

I have enjoyed taking part and exhibiting at cycling, craft and vegan events, where I have met my customers. This has made my journey worthwhile - as I can see that my sustainable fashion creation has a purpose, as well as a future. For this reason, my goal is to open up a vibrant boutique in central London where I can display my work and meet my growing audience. I will  host workshops there as well so that I can teach and share my up-cycling ideas, as well as inspire others to think big, create, and change the world!

(my first big expo, the London Motorcycle Show 2016)

SHOW YOUR SUPPORT!

I have some great available pledges to choose from.  Start to use recycled items and be surprised at how good the items are. Browse different colours and patterns and enjoy the exclusivity of the products. You can choose  belts or jewellery, or even the first collection of car tyre sandals with interchangeble straps which are available on discounted price only for my Crowdfunder supporters. Check out my offers.  If you are a company, become a ZABO hero and you will appear on our Eco-Hero page so that everyone knows how you are supporting this project. 

(painted worn bicycle tyres for belts) Each item is unique, artistic belts for creative outfits) 

The media have taken an interest in this story and the ZABO brand has had some great features, E.g. In the London Evening Standard, Eluxe Magazine, Vegan Trade Journal, Female First, Forbes (Hungary), Business Class Magazine (Hungary) Cycling Junkies and Metal Hammer, just to name a few.

I need your support to expand my upcycling mission, spread the word, reach a wider audience and continue to reuse more and more tyres. Together we can help to reduce the tyre waste and create a greener planet. 

“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new” – Socrates

* All ZABO products are eco-friendly, handmade in London, the brand has been PETA approved.

** source: Wikipedia 

This project successfully funded on 28th March 2018