On a quest to make a positive impact; we are a fully-fledged Cairo-based cult brand and social enterprise created in celebration of You and this beautiful planet — Earth. We aim to redefine slow fashion as high-quality, competitively priced, and led by women. Our brand emphasizes empowering refugees, empowering women, and promoting sustainable practices !

We have made remarkable strides in our entrepreneurial journey, primarily by championing environmental and social causes through our sustainable fashion brand. 

Since our inception in 2013, we have successfully repurposed over 2 million plastic bags, 800,000 plastic bottles, and 800 car tires into a diverse range of high-quality fashion items, including laptop sleeves, wallets, bags, clothing, and shoes. 

Yes , we know ! It's worth bragging about. 

Now let us tell you how ! 

By collecting plastic waste from Cairo's "garbage city" streets, procuring it in large quantities, sorting it based on various colors and melting points, meticulously cleaning and compressing it under specific temperature conditions. Subsequently, the plastic is cut into standardized dimensions to suit our machinery. Skilled artisans collaborate with the design team to handcraft the product's original shapes using seven layers. These layers are sewn together using a machine, culminating in the creation of final products.

Using plastic bottles, we use innovative methods to press and extract the plastic to transform plastic bottles into Polyester threads, blending them with sustainable cotton to craft unique fabrics for our clothing line. 

Fascinated? Not yet? Listen to this, we extract the central portion of damaged car tires, rescuing them from burning and the resulting harmful emissions & turns them into the sole of shoes & slippers! Our products have garnered popularity in Europe, the UAE, and Egypt, where we have not only mitigated plastic waste but also heightened awareness on recycling and sustainable lifestyles.

We are recognized for our sustainability efforts with awards and features in known publications. Founder accolades include the UN Environmental award. Collaborations with COP27 highlight our leadership in sustainable fashion for positive environmental, social, and economic impact.

That's not it ! Read about social impact here :)

We love and respect people. It is vital for us to make a positive change, not only environmentally but socially. Behind each item we create stand people, who we value and know personally. Garbage collectors, artisans, designers, sewers are ALL part of Up-fuses’ local production.

In addition to our environmental impact, we have played a pivotal role in empowering women by offering employment opportunities !

Through constant vocational training programs tailored for underprivileged and refugee women, we equip them with the necessary skills to create our products from scratch ! Opening avenues for potential employment within the company or fostering self-sufficiency and entrepreneurship.

So far , Up-fuse has managed to provide over 50 job opportunities to talented, yet less privileged, Egyptian artisans.

The Garbage City in Cairo

Known as Cairo Garbage City and is among the world's largest garbage districts, being home to 60,000 Zaballeen - garbage-collectors. These entrepreneurial garbage workers have achieved a remarkably efficient waste disposal system, recycling over 80% of the garbage collected daily, accounting to 3000 – 4000 tons. To further impress you, developed cities and multinational waste disposal corporations recycle only 20 - 30% of what they collect, leaving the rest to rot in giant landfills.  

Their innovative recycling practices have intrigued people worldwide and Up-fuse is happy to be able to contribute!

Up-fuse gave many of the women from the district  the opportunity to earn stable incomes through flexible working schedules that  acknowledge their responsibilities as hardworking wives and mothers. After vocational training, these amazing women surprised us by their enthusiasm and artistic touches that are an Up-fuse signature in the material production phase, making The Garbage City in Cairo  our hub for collecting, upcycling and storing raw and finished materials.

Take a minute to watch this ! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b26dBL5tQPk 

1.Small workshops around Cairo

We inhouse 80% of our production. All of which are done in Cairo, 20 minutes away from our office. However, we sometimes need more hands, so we outsource our production in different workshops around the city. Any workshop we work with, we make sure they empower local production and maintain our quality standards.

2. In-house Production

We employ full-time, expert local artisans and technicians who work with us on developing, prototyping and producing our different pieces. They are an integral part of the team and it’s their input that made Up-fuse’s vision a possibility. Together with these genius artisans, we managed to define our production techniques and create a one of a kind production process in respect to the nature of our up-cycled materials.. We are proud to be the ones who provided them with the tools, the space and the opportunity they needed to revolutionise their handicraft skills and excel further in their profession.

We believe that small actions can make a big difference.We. With plastics taking 1000 years to decompose, it is one of the main environmental issues around the globe. Especially in Egypt, we are facing daily pollution to an extreme extent – and therefore we need to make a change.

Up-fuse has developed techniques to upcycle different kinds of plastics, transforming them into sustainable fashionable bags and accessories, clothing and footwear. One bag can hinder almost 30 plastic bags from being thrown away. One shoe recycles ⅓ of a car tire. A t-shirt can recycle 6 600ml plastic bottle

Our materials are  sustainable, unique and we LOVE it!

We’re working with a lot of different surfaces. One upcycled plastic sheet, or a car tire piece might be rough, another might be extremely smooth; each material has its own character that cannot be duplicated, even if we tried! As for the Recycled plastic bottle textile, it's the only material that we unify and create equal textile rolls from.

Plastic Bags:

We collect plastic bags, sanitise them and up-cycle them into colourful leather like sheets. Those sheets are later turned into Bags, Laptop sleeves, wallets, and Notebooks.

Since establishment, we have up-cyled more than 2,000,000 plastic bag

Plastic Bottles:

We collect plastic bottles, sanitise them and up-cycle them into two main materials.

The first Material is our Eco-friendly Polyester Textile, made from 50% recycled plastic bottles polyester yarns and 50% from better cotton yarns. Our textile is certified bt GLOBAL RECYCLING INITIATIVE

The second Up-cycled Material is our hard upcycled plastic bottle. It's wood-like material but made from recycled plastic bottles and containers.

Old Car Tires:

Our footwear is either made from upcycled car tires that are either shredded and moulded into our designed outer soles, or the outsole is just cut out from a specific part of the cartire.

Workshops:

The aim of our workshops is to get participants to understand the level of impact plastic waste has on the environment and the multitude of ways they can use plastic instead of discarding it. 

We have successfully led numerous workshops for different companies and associations which had different age groups. 

Participants get to learn the process of recycling plastic bags into different products like notebooks and phone cover bags! or recycling plastic bottles into jewellery ! 

Vocational trainings

Up-fuse curates intensive vocational training that targets women and refugees. We help companies or corporations  reach their social corporate responsibility by training sewing and other basic living skills for women in underprivileged communities. Later, we hire the training beneficiaries to our production supply chainWe worked with IOM to create new product lines for women in  Egypt, in addition to supporting Sudanese and Syrian Migrants with different Soft and Technical skills workshops to adapt and find jobs in Cairo, Egypt.