on how to make sustainability the coolest thing, a discussion with braden quinn
After an unsuccessful stab at an engineering degree, a desire for pants that fit, and a perspective altering viewing of The True Cost, Braden Quinn decided he needed to do something. That something was the clothing rework company, Tapes.
Located on East Hastings in the heart of the Downtown Eastside, Tapes is a studio space filled with character. On the walls, there are old tv monitors that look as though they shouldn’t still be working, but are alive and well, playing cartoons that haven’t been aired since before we were born; and sewing machines that look older than your grandma on the floor. A lover of wear and tear, Braden has a special appreciation for things other people might walk by without a second thought, whether that be the chipped paint on the buildings he sees on his commute to work, or the barbed wire fences he found on Craigslist and repurposed as a clothing rack.
Arriving to the interview a couple minutes earlier than I had intended to, I interrupt Braden in the middle of a project. After letting him do his thing, I return to find that he is already on to another garment adaptation. I begin our conversation while he is still clearing up his screen printing supplies, and admiring the print he just created with tree branches spreading across a denim jacket. I leave the interview with wet paint on the back of the phone I used to record the conversation.
I Wasn’t sure exactly what to call you.. so who are you?
My name is Brayden, I run tapes. I call it Tapes, Tapes World is just like the instagram.
What significance does the name have?
The name tapes means a lot of things, so of course it's a reference to cassette tapes
because it has that vintage feeling, it's something from the past that is still so
recognizable, and it's something you can play over again and over again and over again. So
what I’m doing essentially is reworking old clothes, so taking old clothes and remixing
them and sort of playing them again. Tapes also because essentially the style I create in,
I just like arrange shit and tape it together. and then another one is because the first
thing I started to do on my sewing machine is tapering pants just because idk 4 years ago
the style of pant was kind of trimmed at the bottom and there were so many pairs of pants
at thrift stores that were good but didn’t fit right, so like the first thing I did was
just taper pants; so a lot of different things going on there.
What got you interested in fashion?
I had always really cared about style and the way I dress and always used it as a way to
stand out. A lot of my friends or my family always just kinda dressed normal but I was
always, I always like to express myself in the way I dress. And I went to school at UBC
for engineering, I was there for 2.5 years and I always wanted to join the sewing club..
but never did. But after 2.5 years I was like no engineering is not for me, and then I
dropped out and kinda picked up a sewing machine and started fucking around.
What made you decide to make sustainable fashion a business rather than a hobby?
Around the same time I started sewing I saw the documentary The True Cost, which is just
like saying how fucked up the fashion industry really is, and it was just alarming so I
wanted to do something about it. I wanted to put a kind of creative spin on recycling. And
I think just kind of I had suppressed my artistic side for a long time and I just wanted
to fucking go for it. I didn;t want it to just be a hobby, I wanted it to be a real thing.
And I think we’re in a day and age where you really can just do whatever you want, if you
really want to.
What came first... sustainability? or fashion?
I cared about style more than/ before sustainability. When I was growing up I didn’t
really know sustainability was a huge thing. But around the same time I started designing
clothes and just like... holy shit this is really fucked up. But it's also a great
opportunity. And especially with consumers being more conscious and aware and they want to
know exactly where shit comes from, and that it's sustainable and that it can do good for
the planet.
There are a lot of definitions of what sustainability means out there, what does it
mean to you?
I think I come at it from a very Diy perspective, like we have everything we need already,
so why exploit the earth even more. So sustainability is really creating with what we
already have and what already exists and try to limit to only that like in nature its a
completely closed loop system animals die but then the mushrooms and bacteria break it
down, like if we can get the fashion industry in particular, where its like once a garment
sees the end of its first life with its first owner, it either gets reworked or reused, or
if it noone wants it anymore, for it to get broken down into fibres and turned into new
fibre. I think especially with technology it's actually closing the loop and making a
completely zero waste system that will happen.
Do you think it could be possible to sustain consumerist demand with something like
reworked items over creating new things?
I do think so, I think we definitely have enough stuff, there’s so much clothing that just
goes in the trash. It'll take time for sure but there’s more and more technology that can
actually recycle garments very well. But I do think there always will be a desire for
something brand new and when it comes to that it's just making the practices within that
as sustainable as possible; so like minimizing water consumption, fair labour, all that
kinda shit.
What is the importance of community to your business?
I mean community just because we can’t do it alone. Like when I first started designing
and having this idea it came to me as if it's just me doing this, I won’t really have an
impact. So I wanna use tapes to create an impact. So whether that's within the community
of the DTES by trying to so small little fundraisers and give to the charities and
organizations that actually make a difference for the people here or inspiring others to
create sustainability, or we’re working on a project now for May which is with 4 other
designers and were all designing around the same concept, but it'll be fully reworked or
second hand materials, so I always have this feeling where I wanna do things all by myself
sometimes so it's a struggle but I think the only way to grow tapes and grow
sustainability and make sustainability the coolest thing possible, you have to bring
people in and trust them to create as well.
"I think the only way to grow tapes and grow sustainability and make sustainability the coolest thing possible, you have to bring people in and trust them to create as well."
How do you make people care?
I think I'm not super aware of it but I think the people around me see what I’m doing.
They appreciate it and it at least makes them think more about it. Like everything I do is
from second hand material and that's not something I'm gonna sacrifice so I think it
really comes to being about what you're about and acting in that way and the more people
that see that and the more people see that what you create is cool.. That's how you bring
people over to the bright side. But it's a process.
What’s more important to you in terms of what you are presenting? A sustainable fashion
alternative, or cool clothes?
I think when I first started I did not focus enough on making cool clothes, I was just
trying to sell a message without having cool shit to sell... but that was when I was
starting out. I just wanna make shit people can be proud and happy to wear and not have to
worry about it harming the planet, or somebody who is making it living in shitty
conditions.
Why reworked items?
Some of it comes out of necessity, some of it comes from I just like things that have been
used and lived in, I'm not really about clean cut like super modern brand new I really
like seeing the wear and tear.