As one of the leading design talents in London right now, it’s no surprise that Richard Quinn’s designs have been worn by the likes of Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, and Amal Clooney. The womenswear designer, who graduated from Central Saint Martins in 2014, has gone from success to success ever since, with both the 2017 H&M Design Award and the 2018 Queen Elizabeth II Award under his belt.

“The Richard Quinn studio was built on the idea of community, and I have always been passionate about repurposing fabrics and encouraging sustainable techniques, so I’m excited to be working on a project with community and sustainability at the heart,” says Quinn. For the Hyundai Re:Style collection, Quinn created a floral corset with an 18th-century silhouette and hem using recycled airbag fabric, which he printed onto directly to create the blue-and-white floral pattern in keeping with his signature style.

Founded by Seung Gun Park, pushBUTTON is one of Seoul's most exciting unisex streetwear labels, designing an array of pieces that blur the lines between genders with their sporty silhouettes. “It’s been great to work with Hyundai, as, like us, they are on an ambitious sustainability journey,” says Gun Park, who, in response to the brief, created a waistcoat using Hyundai’s deadstock airbag materials. Keeping the airbag’s original stitching and ties to add detailing to the pockets, Park's design retains the airbag's original texture by deconstructing and reassembling it. “This is the coolest vest ever; the colouration is well balanced, and it really has a pushBUTTON feel – you could wear this on the street anytime,” says Park, who has been inspired to source waste materials from other industries following his participation in this project.

Known for her artful gold-plated jewellery created using recycled precious metals, Alighieri’s feminine designs are inspired by Italian poet Dante Alighieri’s long narrative poem titled ‘Divine Comedy’. Starting the brand at a tough point in her life, Founder Rosh Mahtani, who previously studied French and Italian at Oxford University, found solace in Alighieri’s poem and the sculptural motifs it conjured up. The first jewellery designer to receive The Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design, Mahtani puts sustainability at the heart of her work. “We don’t believe in seasonality or fast fashion at Alighieri; all our jewellery is created as forever pieces, each with its own story,” says the brand’s founder.

Handmade in London’s historic diamond district, Hatton Garden, Mahtani pieces are made from recycled, responsibly sourced materials. For Hyundai Re:Style, Alighieri has repurposed waste seatbelts. “I like to think of jewellery as armour; it protects you. And in that sense, I loved the idea of marrying the seatbelt material with the idea of protection,” says Mahtani. She fused the seatbelts with foam and her signature fluid gold, silver, bronze and freshwater pearls to create her four-piece collection for the project. “The foam chunks reminded me very much of the organic and imperfect shapes of the Alighieri aesthetic,” she says. From the seatbelt choker adorned with dainty pearls and gold droplet-shaped embellishments to the fine necklace underpinned by foam, these Alighieri pieces embody waste with worth.

New-York based designer Rosie Assoulin produces 90% of her garments and accessories in the vibrant community of her home city as part of her commitment to sustaining local employment and championing local artisanal craftsmanship. Since founding her label in 2014, Assoulin and her team have been working to reduce their carbon footprint and partnering with suppliers who promote fair labour practices. “We want to design a future where our earth and its creatures live in harmony,” remarks Assoulin. “We don’t have all the answers, but we’re constantly learning in order to evolve.” For Hyundai Re:Style 2020, Assoulin transformed seatbelt webbing, carpet fabric and foam to create a tote bag featuring a perforated trompe l’oeil weave pattern. True to her signature sculptural accessories, Assoulin has used deadstock carpet fabric to add structure and texture to the functional bag and a seatbelt strap provides an alternative way to wear the item.

Prior to discovering the materials at her disposal for the project, Assoulin planned to create an “earthy, primal piece that juxtaposes with Hyundai’s precision, planning and use of modern technology”. However, inspired by the dense carpet fabric available, Assoulin changed her approach: “the use of non-traditional materials is very much in the Rosie Assoulin vocabulary”. This collaboration with Hyundai has highlighted that what items conventionally thought to be waste can be incredibly beautiful. “This process is best when diverse, distinct industries come together to challenge and provoke one another through collaboration,” says Assoulin.