Earth Day: Soho House Berlin X Rebirth Studios

Soho House Berlin and Rebirth Studios, the Berlin-based upcycling and waste solutions agency, are working together on a line of summer essentials. It’s not any old merch made from virgin materials but rather a limited edition collection, hand crafted from pool towels and bed linen that no longer meet the house’s standards due to damage and would otherwise go to waste. 

Beach bags, bucket hats and travel pochettes built from the Berlin house’s iconic green and white striped pool towels lined with high quality cotton from bed sheets are dropping on Earth Day, available for purchase at the house’s reception. And, later in the evening, there’ll be a party to celebrate Soho House style.  

Rebirth Studios was founded in 2022 with a mission in mind – to transform the fabric waste industry and inspire a rethink in our consumption habits. Its business model is two-fold. First, it offers its own line of garments made from discarded and deadstock fabrics; and second, it fathoms scalable solutions for corporate material waste often manifesting in the form of exciting collaborative projects such as with Levi Jeans and for Bella Hadid. Next up for Rebirth, Soho House. 

This pilot project is the first of its kind in what Soho House hopes will be a long line of global projects taking place to minimise waste. “Collaborations like this are important because they give us the opportunity to work with our members and teams to come up with solutions that support things like our waste reduction goals or our supplier diversity goals – but also put tangible purpose led initiatives into the spotlight,” says Jamila Brown, Head of House Foundations. “It’s a creative way to tackle waste reduction in our houses whilst also creating something we can give back to members as a new offering.” 

“We wanted to keep the collection simple, cute, unisex and inclusive,” says Liz Valentina Thieme, Founder and Creative Director of Rebirth Studios. “Each item, handcrafted in our Berlin studio, contains a little label which is numbered indicating that it’s special, you know, it’s one of only so many pieces and each is unique. Down the line, it could become a collectible in a way – you’ve got the green and white stripes in Berlin; who’s to say where next, the red and white stripes of Soho House Rome?”  

Stained and damaged towels and sheets were collected over a four month period. Liz then took them in for a chemical clean before closely examining the materials and removing any damage. Then Liz and her team got down to designing. “The materials were such high quality,” says Liz, remarking on what a pleasure it was to work with them.  

The Rebirth team typically works on an on-demand basis. “At the opening on Earth Day, we plan to gauge what people are interested in. Do more people want bucket hats or beach bags? Then we can make more of whatever people are in to, this way we avoid creating more waste right there and then. There’ll be a second pop-up in Summer where we’ll sell the second drop,” says Liz. “There’s also talk of a little upcycling workshop down the line so keep your eyes peeled for that.” Sign me up.

So, how did the collaboration come to play in the first place? I ask Liz. “I was in Soho House last year and I thought to myself, it would be so cool to make something out of these towels, they’re iconic. So I reached out, proposed my ideas and we started working together soon after.” 

“We’re lucky to have some of the most creative people in the world in our spaces, all of whom are innovating with circularity and impact in mind,” says Jamila.

Liz grew up in Hamburg before moving to South Africa with her family where she studied fashion design at university. “I think it was a really informative experience in my development. I wear a lot of colour and my designs are quite eccentric and loud which is quite contrasting to the Berlin scene. I feel I might have gotten a little more playful with fashion because of South Africa,” she says. Before founding Rebirth, she was working at About You. It was here that she registered the copious quantities of waste coming from the fashion industry. “I just wanted to reuse it. It started with a project and after a couple of collaborations, I soon realised this was a business model and something I can do and would love to do by myself so I created my own company out of it,” Liz tells me. 

She’s frustrated by the gap between sustainability and the sub-cult fashion scene that is deemed as ‘cool’. “You’d go to sustainability fairs and you’d see the shirts with like, I don’t know, marmalade jars on them or something,” she laughs, continuing: “My vision is to close that gap and then to make it a bit more scalable. A lot of the upcycling you see is some jeans transformed into a one off skirt but we need to make it more accessible with more sizes at cheaper costs. I think by having the solutions side of Rebirth Studios as well as the brand, we’re able to offer this.” 

This is why a collaboration like this is mega. Soho House is an influential establishment with  exclusive allure and a cult-esque image, the statement made through the upcycling collection with Rebirth can help to close that gap and will likely have a ripple effect far and wide.

Upcycling plays a promising part en route to the material future. “There is so much stuff everywhere and so much can be done with it. It doesn’t have to be waste. That’s why this project is so exciting. Who’d even think of old hotel bedding?” True, it’d hardly crossed my mind before today. “But there is more life. An old towel can still be a bag! And it’s cool that Soho House wants to see that longevity.”

Transparency is key in conversations surrounding sustainability. And Jamila is candid with me. “Are these bags going to save the world and that’s it we’re done? No… But, are they a way to put our values out in the open and be part of the shift and influence needed culturally to be more mindful about the part we can all play when it comes to environmental and social impact? Definitely,” she shares.

Liz is hopeful that this is only the start: “What would be cool to see would be the house integrating more and more new products that are actually made from upcycled goods.” It sounds like this is the plan as various programmes are trialled and tested around the globe. “As you can imagine, certain solutions work better in certain areas and for certain items,” says Jamila. “Our goals are to continue to get more sites on the journey of finding ways to ethically manage our resources and rethink what is waste and what has sustained value.”