Made From Upcycled Denim
tuntunre
Engraved view of the Marina waterfront tower
PL-05 · Marina

Rescued, then finished

Tuntunre is a small atelier in Lagos, Nigeria. We take denim that has already been worn out somewhere else and cut it into pieces that can be worn again.
01 · The premise

Salvage, said plainly

Denim arrives already used. It has a colour it earned, a weave that has moved, seams that were cut for someone else. Everything we make keeps that legible.

Nigeria imports an enormous quantity of second-hand clothing every year, and a large share of what arrives is denim too worn to resell. It is durable, it is abundant, and it is treated as waste. That is the whole opportunity — we are not rescuing denim because it is virtuous, we are using it because it is the best material available and it is already here.

What we don’t do is retouch it into uniformity. If a panel faded around somebody’s wallet for six years, that mark stays on the outside of the bag.

Principle 01Salvage is the storyShow wear, seams and irregularity. Never retouch denim into uniformity.
Principle 02Printed, not litFlat ink, hairline rules, hatched tone. No drop shadows, gradients or glass.
Principle 03Lagos is the groundPlace is named plainly: bridges, markets, the mainland. No exoticism.
02 · How a lot is made

Three hands, one number

Nothing here is manufactured twice. A lot is a finite run of one, logged the day it is finished.

  1. 01RescuedDenim is sourced from Katangua and Yaba, sorted by weight and fade, then washed cold.
  2. 02CutPanels are cut around what the jean already earned: back pockets, selvedge, bleach marks.
  3. 03FinishedSewn and double-stitched by hand in the Lagos atelier, numbered, then logged as a lot of one.
Model in a brown coat holding a large upcycled denim tote made from jean panels
03 · The atelier

Repairs, for the life of the piece

Everything is cut and sewn in Lagos, Nigeria. Because we can’t make you another one, we would rather keep the one you have working — bring a piece back and we will restitch a seam, replace a drawcord or patch a wear-through for as long as we are here.

Care
Cold hand wash. Dry flat, in shade. Do not bleach. Repairs: Lagos atelier.
Where
Lagos, Nigeria
See what’s cut