(banner figure credits: James Cochrane)
Rolf Ekroth x LSJH collaboration in the tExtended project: Demonstrating the use of end-of-life textiles in a fashion collection showcased at Copenhagen Fashion Week
Written by: Susanna Raiskio, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
On August 5th, Finnish fashion designer Rolf Ekroth presented their Spring/Summer 2026 fashion collection, 189 DAYS LATER — ENCORE, at Copenhagen Fashion Week. For the collection, Rolf Ekroth collaborated with Lounais-Suomen Jätehuolto (LSJH) in the tExtended project to demonstrate and showcase how discarded textiles can be creatively used to create beautiful outfits as part of a cohesive fashion collection.
Our partner, LSJH, is a municipal waste management company that collects and sorts end-of-life household textiles in Finland. Recently, they have also gained recognition and received awards for their innovative collaborations with Finnish designers, offering upcycling services as a material bank. This time, LSJH collaborated with designer Rolf Ekroth, who transformed post-consumer garments and deadstock fabrics into new outfits. The objective of the collaboration, as described by the designer, was to “offer refreshing insights to designers and consumers about the new possibilities in circularity of textiles. The campaign extends the lifespan of used textiles and reduces textile waste by recreating new value and fashion appreciation even to the damaged, used garments”.
Fabrics with different colours, patterns and materials were skilfully combined into interesting looks. For instance, old knitwear pieces were mixed and made into a patchwork look, and in another look, they were merged with a blazer. In some looks, there were pieces of a t-shirt stitched onto another t-shirt with a print on top, a top with cut-out shoulders and a laser-cut print, and even a top that was covered with badges, creating a flame print on the garment. Below, we collected some highlight looks created using post-consumer textiles.
The fashion collection was presented in a small forest next to an urban area with old industrial buildings, creating a perfect setting for the show. The collection and collaboration with LSJH received considerable attention across online and social media, with coverage from Vogue.com, Vogue Scandinavia, and The New York Times, among others. This wide coverage signals the interest in creative approaches to promoting textile circularity. The remaking and refurbishing of end-of-life textiles, as put into practice in Rolf Ekroth’s collection, complement various material recycling technologies developed and demonstrated by the tExtended project.
