FORGET recycling. The latest buzzword in eco circles is upcycling: the process of re-engineering wastebound materials into lifestyle products of much higher value and desirabilty. Thanks to a growing number of talented designers who have been taking waste material - think old tyres and rusty chains - and turning them into cool bags and jewellery, garbage is now in fashion.

Right up there in the thick of the upcycling action is eco-fashion boutique echo that has fast become the go-to place for 'designer eco brands' ever since it opened its doors at Wheelock Place earlier this April.

Started by entrepreneur and self-proclaimed 'latecomer to the eco-awareness movement' Terence Yow (he first realised that his lifestyle habits were wasteful and unsustainable after watching the 2008 documentary An Inconvenient Truth), echo stocks nine bag and accessories labels that specialise in upcycled goods.

These include Harveys, which offers bags made out of rescued seatbelts; Elvis & Kresse, a UK label that makes men's and women's bags and accessories out of decommissioned fire hoses treated to feel like leather; Ecoist, which turns overproduced and misprinted candy wrappers into fun bags and clutches (known as 'the original candy wrapper handbags'), and Escama Studio, that handmakes aluminium pull tabs ('Pop-Tops') from aluminium recycling centres in Brazil, which are then hand-crocheted by local men's and women's co-cooperatives there. He will soon add a 10th brand to echo's portfolio - Brazilian shoe maker Melissa that produces shoes out of a signature, bubblegum-smelling eco plastic.

According to Mr Yow, all the brands in echo's stable have strong environmental and sustainable values but he maintains that being green is not enough to make it into his boutique. 'More importantly, they have to look and feel really good. Yes, the pre-requisite for all these brands is that they have to be eco-friendly but also just as strong design-wise.' He believes that appealing to the fashion sensibilities of his customers and then hoping that they in turn would pay more attention to the environment is a more effective way to convert people to the 'green' cause, compared to what he calls 'in your face evangelism'.

'We didn't want to take the moral high ground and think that just because our products are eco-friendly, a consumer should feel guilty and buy them. This is not what echo is about,' he says. 'I think that for most consumers design always comes first, if it's eco-friendly that's a bonus. Then again, regardless of why they buy the product, it's still good for the environment, isn't it?'

It's a strategy that's paid off for Mr Yow; the shop is already making operating profits despite only being in operation for three months. He has yet to recoup his six-figure investment but is unfazed as 'it is early days yet', he says. 'I expected to sell maybe five to 10 items a day but we're doubling that in sales. Maybe I was being too conservative to begin with, but I find that very encouraging.'

He reckons that consumers have reacted well to his brands because the products are value for money, contrary to the popular belief that eco-friendly products are more expensive.

'In fact I used to think so as well until I started sourcing for brands and realised that I was wrong,' he says. 'Take Harveys bags for example, they range between $149 and $395 but they look, feel and are made as well as other bag labels that would charge twice as much.'

In many ways, Mr Yow is a pragmatic man, a trait that would serve him well in the cut-throat world of retail.

Last October for example, he first tested the market by selling his wares online (echo-brands.com) before investing in a physical retail space. And though he believes in the green cause he doesn't expect his company to ever be completely 'eco' even though his staff do their part by carrying out day-to-day operations in the greenest way possible - utilising 100 per cent recycled folders, PET pens, special eco paper for paper bags, store cards and office use, to name a few.

'I wanted to buy recycled teak wood for the store but it was three times the price of normal wood so I gave it up. Instead I decided to retrofit abandoned gates from a bungalow in Bukit Timah into gates for echo. They were still more expensive than normal roller shutters but not as steep as the recycled teak wood,' he concludes. 'My point is that, yes, it is important to do your part for the environment but as a business you have to be practical as well. It is not about being the perfect 'green company' but rather it is about doing the best that you can. That's what I believe.'

echo
#02-12 Wheelock Place
Tel: 6733 1188

This article was first published in The Business Times.