A HUMBLE little business from the Karoo is slowly but surely taking the South African market by storm.
“I’ve always been inspired by the natural beauty of the Karoo,” young entrepreneur Tess O’Halloran said. “Unfortunately, plastic pollution is taking on epic proportions here – we often see plastic bags caught in the veld on fences, and strewn all over town.
“I decided to begin creating useful products from the problematic plastic around me and to become the change I wanted to see.”
Experimenting with different materials and techniques, Tess and mom, Helen, finally came up with a durable fused plastic solution, and thus, plasticity was born.
“Since its inception in 2017, each of our upcycled products is still handmade and uniquely designed in the small town of Graaff-Reinet,” Tess said.
Lately, this small brand from the Karoo has been making its mark in the South African fashion industry. While the latter has always promoted a culture of consumerism, even hardened fashionistas are slowly catching on to the idea of recycling, reusing and reducing.
“We were honoured to create bags for the Future of Fashion Symposium held at Victoria Yards in Johannesburg in December 2019,” said Tess.
“Attended by an international contingent, the event was aimed at highlighting the problems within our current fashion industry, and guests were encouraged to find new and innovative, local solutions to the global fashion problem.
“It was the first time that sustainability received so much attention at an SA fashion symposium, and it was presented by Rewoven Company, in partnership with Business Sweden, Embassy of Sweden, twyg and the Swedish Institute.
“It was such an honour to get plasticity this type of international exposure.”
This year, Tess was approached by Volvo South Africa to supply upcycled bags for 150 adventurers who participated in the iconic TransCape mountain bike race.
The living room and dining room tables and floors in the busy O’Halloran household are forever strewn with bags in the process of assembling, and attest to the fact that a lot of effort and care goes into the manufacturing process.
“To date, we have passed the 200kg mark of total plastic diverted from landfill as a direct result of our upcycling efforts,” Tess says.
It’s no wonder they were recently nominated for a PETCO award, the premier national environmental awards initiative, recognising excellence in reuse, recycling and waste minimisation among businesses, organisations, community groups and individuals within the South African PET plastic industry.
But for Tess, awards and prestige are not what life is all about. Instead, she gets excited about the fact that they now also sell through the new Ladles of Love online store, the proceeds of which goes towards funding a volunteer-run soup kitchen in Cape Town.
“We are just excited to see what the rest of 2020 will bring,” Tess said.
