MATERIALBYPRODUCT is a Melbourne based global fashion label created by fashion designers Susan Dimasi and Chantal Kirby. Over the past five years Dimasi and Kirby have been quietly meeting and impressing Europe’s best retailers and designers. A global label with innovative methods and techniques involving cutting, marking and joining, this label is definitely on the cutting edge of design.

A couple of days ago Susan from MATERIALBYPRODUCT very kindly let me visit their studio and ask her a few questions of about their T-shirt Makeover project, a project which they are promoting during the State of Design Festival. The project continues informally all year round so don’t stress if you don’t get to their Fitzroy studio by Friday this week you can still call and make an appointment.

photo of MATERIALBYPRODUCT workroom

With scissors, chalk and thread, MATERIALBYPRODUCT can transform an old favourite, discarded and even ugly t-shirt into a desirable newly updated fashion piece.

When I spoke to Susan she told me ‘We like to promote the continuing project through the State of Design festival as it is a different take on how to do fashion. Design people are not necessarily into fashion, as fashion can sometimes be used as a bit of a scapegoat for consumerism. However the t-shirt makeover really appeals to designers  as only a tiny tiny percentage of the garment involves new materials. We work with the existing t-shirt and use our MATERIALBYPRODUCT signature branding - a silk ribbon on the sleeve. It is a technique involving joining which is our own innovation.’

I was so enthused, I think Susan might have thought I was a bit of a nuffy as I kept muttering ‘how amazing’. I love their idea of reworking each garment on a individual basis depending on its needs. All you need to do is drop off your t-shirt and MATERIALBYPRODUCT will do the rest.

photo of finished t-shirts which have undergone the makeover

Each t-shirt is different, for example Susan showed me a KISS t-shirt which she had added a ribbon in the back of the garment to change the silhouette. Another t-shirt had undergone a sleeve change to a more feminine shape, and another had been repaired with the MATERIALBYPRODUCT branding ribbon. All completely different and individual, but updated with current fashion and consistent with the MATERIALBYPRODUCT signature branding.

‘The Ramones t-shirt is from a really sophisticated woman in her 20s and she didn’t want to part with the t-shirt as it was a part of her history. However it was not really her style now. The makeover concept is the idea you can keep the history and memories attached to the garment but update and transform it into a new piece’ Susan tells me.

Susan also spoke to my briefly about the MATERIALBYPRODUCT range and what inspires the brand. ‘Our main concept is we have created our own fashion language through cut, mark and joining of cloth. We also gain technical inspiration through research and development. Both Chantel and I both get engaged in the process and work with materials. I am also inspired by external factors and the environment. For example an old lace curtain which you could get in any domestic home we recreated into inspiration for a print. Or a dress which was inspired by wood grain and has wooden beading on the sleeves. Mens tailoring also really inspires us, making it and wearing it. The fusion of draping and tailoring. We often work with opposites such as the luxury and mundane, and draping and tailoring.’

MATERIALBYPRODUCT work tirelessly to continue to develop new techniques with a constant eye on sustainability. By using innovative techniques, draping and joining, they minimise the wastage from fabric without sacrificing luxury and fashion. Susan and Chantal are constantly working on separate new projects from commissed pieces for musician Bjork, to window installations in London and Paris and the T-shirt Makover ofcourse. Like other famous fashion brands around the world MATERIALBYPRODUCT has created a brand which is no one elses but their own.

MATERIALBYPRODUCT also take private clients, so you can make an appointment and get a chance to have your essential summer piece before Europe early next year.

Cost $45-$70. MATERIALBYPRODUCT, 337 Gore Street, Fitzroy +61 3 9077 4796