Pieces from Deadly Ponies’ new Recycle collection. Images supplied.
Deadly Ponies launched their Recycle initiative in June this year with the brand collecting pre-loved pieces from customers to repurpose and recycle into new pieces in an effort to close the loop. The brand’s inaugural Recycle collection handcrafted from 100% recycled leather, silk and solid brass was released online for pre-order tonight and will be available in Deadly Ponies’ stores in early September.
Turning pre-loved handbags and silk scarves into new pieces is no easy feat but Deadly Ponies have created four limited edition pieces; a silk eye-mask, leather sunglasses case, leather coaster set and custom-designed brass hand crafted in collaboration with local artist, Hannah Valentine. Aside from their focus on recycling, Deadly Ponies also wanted to contribute to an important cause and have pledged to donate 10% of profits to their 2020 partner, Dress For Success NZ, who empower women to experience financial freedom in New Zealand and re-enter the workforce.
“Partnering with Dress For Success felt like the perfect alignment for us. When starting out with the initial concept for the Recycle Initiative, we always knew that we wanted this collection to support our community – beyond closing the product loop,” say says CEO Steven Boyd. “We are proud to be donating 10% of the proceeds to Dress For Success, and are donating any pre-loved bags that are usable, but not able to be recycled, to the organisation to support women seeking financial independence.”
While the brand have long been repurposing materials in various ways throughout their collections during their 15 year history, Deadly Ponies’ directors Steven Boyd and Liam Bowden had wanted to do so on a larger scale. Earlier this year they opened a custom-built atelier which has enabled this vision to come to life; giving them more scope and space to continue to hand-craft each product in-house with their small team of artisans.
“We’ve always been trying to work out how we can become more circular with our product, and the way in which it moves through its lifecycle. We’ve been very strong on repairing our bags to give them the longest life cycle possible, but in some instances they’ve lived a full life. Rather than sending them to landfill, we wanted to find a way to incorporate them into a new product or item for people to enjoy and love for years to come. That’s what this project is really about; celebrating not only the leather and the history of the products we’ve made, but also the craftsmanship out of our atelier.”
Images supplied.