sdca studio transforms past-season fabric scraps into ‘REBIRTH’ collection #004

London-based womenswear label sdca studio has presented collection #004, REBIRTH, during its first London Fashion Week presentation in September 2026. Designed by Sonia Alves, the collection consists of one-off pieces made entirely from scraps and leftover fabrics saved during the development of the brand’s three previous collections.

Circularity sits at the centre of sdca studio’s design process. The label works with minimal-waste pattern-cutting, natural materials and deadstock fabrics, while allowing the limitations of available material to influence each garment.

For REBIRTH, that approach becomes the collection itself. Offcuts gathered during toiling, sampling and production are no longer treated as waste. Instead, they provide the starting point for new silhouettes, surfaces and construction techniques.

Previous collections return in new forms

The concept builds on experiments from sdca studio’s earlier work.

Collection #001 used irregular calico scraps to construct new garments through patchworking. Rather than following a predetermined design, Alves allowed the shapes of the leftover fabric to determine the result.

For collection #002, the studio hand-wove a bag from jersey strips cut from charity-shop T-shirts. The experiment encouraged further exploration of how discarded textiles could become useful design material.

With #004, these earlier ideas come together. REBIRTH revisits fabrics, processes and techniques from previous collections and gives them another purpose.

Portuguese craft informs the collection

Alves also looks to Portugal, where she is from, for one of the collection’s main references.

Traditional Portuguese rug-making provided a direct connection between craft and textile reuse. The rugs historically use strips of leftover fabric from the textile industry, turning material that might otherwise become waste into colourful woven surfaces.

Their irregular combinations of colour and striped patterns influenced the visual character of REBIRTH. Alves also studied the women traditionally associated with making the rugs, which led her towards Portuguese dress, silhouettes and decorative motifs.

The collection does not simply reproduce those traditions. Instead, sdca studio places them within its own experimental approach to construction and material use.

Designing with what already exists

Minimal-waste pattern-cutting remains fundamental to the studio. Alves develops shapes through experimentation, responding to the dimensions and limitations of each piece of fabric.

This means the final garment cannot always be predicted in advance. Problem-solving, improvisation and acceptance of unexpected results become part of the design process.

The collection reflects the wider sdca studio manifesto, which rejects perfection in favour of progression and places circularity at the centre of making. The brand also states that beauty should not come at the expense of comfort or nature.

The first presentation of collection #004 also featured a live performance, extending REBIRTH beyond the garments themselves.

Rather than beginning with an idea of what a piece should look like and then sourcing materials to achieve it, sdca studio reverses the process. REBIRTH begins with what is already available and asks what those remnants can become next.