3T Hat No. 2

by JRAT

Each garment in the 3T collection is created from three t-shirts or tank tops that were salvaged from artist Janelle Abbott’s aunt’s collection of clothing. The three tees have been deconstructed, layered on top of one another, sewn together, then the top two layers cut thru between the sewn lines to expose the third, base layer below. This method is a play on the chenille technique and is an attempt to salvage as many garments as possible from the thrift cycle and/or the landfill.

Dimensions: Approx. 22 in. circumference 

Janelle Abbott (JRAT) was born into the fashion industry—her parents owned a clothing manufacturing company where they produced Tencel garments in Seattle for over 20 years. This early exposure to the behind the scenes of garment production gave Janelle a sense of reverence for the labor involved in creating clothing. She received a BFA in fashion design from Parsons School of Design in 2012. In the face of the exploitive labor and environmental damage perpetrated by corporate fashion, Janelle decided to carve her own path—one committed to upcycling, sustainability, hand craft, and the zero waste design methodology. Densely pleated, boldly clashing, and unexpectedly rhythmic, Janelle’s work is scrappy, unapologetic, and a testament to just how much time and energy it takes for real humans to manufacture and produce every consumer product we engage with.