INTERVIEW #113 RE/LAX REMADE
Based in: Sydney
Founded in: 2021
Founded by: Karina Barker
Stores: Online direct to consumer through the website – www.relaxremade.com.au
Price range: $240 - $1295 AUD
Instagram: @re.lax_remade
Hello RE/LAX REMADE, welcome to A Sustainable Closet! We are so curious to know how you came up with the concept and idea for your brand, what's the story?
When I was a kid in the 80s, my dad and grandpa lived in floral terry towelling bucket hats they bought at the chemist. They cost about $5 and every dad in Australia had one. They were iconic Aussie dad-wear and considered deeply uncool. My family find it hilarious that Dad’s daggy hat was the inspo for a fashion item that is now featured on the runway, in magazines, and sold around the world!
The first hat I made, I made for my dad. I have always collected and used vintage homewares and found myself with a beautiful collection of vintage bath towels in my home. They reminded me of dad’s old hats, so I put two and two together and started experimenting during lockdown. I wanted to create something with better sun protection than the original (which had a super narrow brim), using existing materials, but preserving the same relaxed vibe.
However, despite this humble origin, I knew I wanted to elevate my hat to be something more artisanal, with a real emphasis on unique materials, craftsmanship and creating a modern heirloom. Each of my hats comes with a lifetime mending promise. I want my hats to feel like a luxury, to be a conversation between history and fashion, the wearer and maker. Inside each hat is a tag that says, “You make me feel new again”.
As one of my customers wrote in her review, “It’s a piece of art and history in one. I feel so lucky it’s mine.”
Another review says, “You aren’t just selling a hat, you’re selling a piece of times gone by. Those heady hot summer days were spent at the beach. A time when life was simpler and purer. We all want that again. Your gorgeous hats gift us with that.”
My brand resonates with people who value handmade craftsmanship, the environment and making ethical choices, colour and pattern, and – importantly – nostalgia. Because they’re so nostalgic and feel so personal, people often buy my hats for their entire family. Breathing new life into discarded and forgotten items resonates. Another review explains, “I am in my 60s and well remember these towels. Sometimes they had white fringes at each end. When we went swimming at the local pool we used to roll them up and put them in a drawstring bag. I had forgotten about these towels till I spotted your hats.”
Your hat designs are truly stunning, especially the fringy hats (WOW), how did you learn to make these?
Thank you! I just experimented until I developed my own designs and methods! I have studied pattern making and sewing on and off over the years, but mostly it’s been a lot of experimentation and brainstorming and trial and error.
How and where are the products produced, where do you source the material from?
For the first 18 months of the business, it was just me making in one room in my home, while outsourcing some of the sewing to a local seamstress. Now I have expanded into a workroom and have a small team of creatives supporting me. I do this full-time (well, around my kids). My background is in writing - poetry, fiction, magazine journalism, and book publishing. But since having kids I have been drawn to making rather than writing, although I do feel a similar creative problem-solving and pared-back beauty figures into both.
Sourcing the towels is a 24/7 job. Many a kid’s bath time has been spent in an eBay auction battle! I have met heaps of interesting people, sourcing through Facebook groups while breastfeeding in the middle of the night. People also come out of the woodwork and offer me towels – rags that they have had in their shed that they hadn’t even noticed the beauty of till they saw my hats. This gives me a real kick when my work can change the way people see things in their domestic lives.
I’ve also had some really meaningful exchanges, for example, a woman I met online sent me her late mother’s YSL and Pierre Cardin towels. She remembers from her childhood how special these were, the one luxury item her mum splurged on. Now they have been made into hats for herself and her daughter, which they both wear and hang on their walls: reimagined heirlooms.
I have also sourced a lot of towels that have never been used: the “good towels” that people’s mothers kept in the linen cupboards and never justified using. They really do come from a different time when people valued their possessions more.
I chat to a lot of elderly ladies online, and through this have sourced a few towels that were treasured engagement gifts from the 60s. I have also built relationships with second-hand dealers on Etsy and IG. Vintage towels are definitely having a moment; when I started collecting them they were about $8 (AUD), and now they are on average $35 (AUD).
I look for towels with retro vibes and unusual colour combos. They were so much braver with colour and pattern back in the day! I also love texture: my favourite towels are ones on which the patterns are created by the texture of the weave. I have found that some of the very oldest towels have the best texture as most would still have been handwoven. I love a repeating geometric pattern that I can meticulously place on the hats – this is my sweet spot! But I also die for big bursting retro florals. My favourite decades to source from are 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s.
Where on the planet are your customers based?
All over the world! Mostly Australia, but also Europe, America and Asia.
Where do you find inspiration?
I am really inspired by the materials. For me, everything I make is the material first design.
It was super important for me to not bring anything “new” into the world when there is so much of everything out there already. We are drowning in stuff! Textile waste is a huge problem for our planet. I feel sick at the idea of making more, more, more when so much value exists already. Imagine we could evolve so that everything “new” was repurposed from something that already exists. Older stuff is also often made better and built to last. These towels I am using still have such vibrant colours after decades of use! These days things are made to be disposable. This is why my lifetime mending promise is so important to me: my hats are not disposable, they are modern heirlooms.
Plus, I have always just really loved old stuff! When I was little, I wanted to be an archaeologist – nothing excited me more than finding old things! I still feel that way in the op shops. Discovering old things and reimagining them as beautiful objects for use in today’s world definitely drives my business.
Each hat I make is one of a kind, it’s an exclusive and collectable piece of art and history in one. I have nine unique hat styles, ranging from casual beach-ready buckets to more sophisticated broad brims. They are all carefully hand-crafted and – I hope – have a relaxed, yet refined feel.
What have been and are the major challenges of starting RE/LAX REMADE and may we ask if this is your full-time job?
The major challenge is making a profit while working ethically! There is not much margin when producing locally, paying fairly and using quality materials. But I am determined to figure it out and forge a new way of doing things in this historically damaging industry.
What has been and is the largest gain?
Personal development and creative fulfilment. Starting and growing my own creative business is like a boot camp in overcoming insecurities and facing fears!
What do you think needs to change in the fashion industry to make it more sustainable?
Attitudes of consumers. To adopt ethical practices more readily in the fashion business, mindset of both brands and the consumer is key.
100 years ago, the process of reworking old materials into new pieces pointed to an inability to afford new clothes, and this history was a hard pill to swallow for many. It is still common practice for many brands to damage their end of season product in order to retain their perceived exclusivity. But what we are discovering, is that we can reclaim exclusivity in the very process of rescuing and reworking the materials.
In 2023, reworking discarded materials is a boutique industry which highlights consideration for the environment, appreciation of one-off design, and respect for the artisanal crafts involved in the making of our clothes. And consumers are asking for it.
When brands are proud to align themselves with the reworking process, wasteful practices end.
Happily, we are already seeing this with heavy hitting brands such as Gucci, whose Gucci Vault (launched Sept 2021) champions one-off pieces created by independent designers using Gucci materials.
To adopt this process more readily in the fashion industry, we need to position these reworked products correctly, highlighting the skill, imagination, and manhours involved, and the exclusivity of one-off handmade items which give so much without risking our environment.
What's up next, do you have anything fun to share with our readers?
I have some really exciting collaborations coming up, plus new hat styles and new products too!