Designer transforms discarded luxury handbags into completely new items

A 29-year-old Los Angeles designer is combining sustainability and luxury fashion

Peder Cho has amassed 273,000 TikTok followers by turning designer handbags into completely new items. Cho ditched his job as an accountant in 2018 to become a full-time designer. He uses social media to give people a glimpse into his process. Unlike most designers who have teams execute their visions, Cho does all the sewing work himself. 

For one project, he transformed a Louis Vuitton envelope bag into a pair of shoe straps and a saddlebag.

In another look, he managed to take two unassuming Christian Louboutin dust bags and make them into a trendy pair of shorts. 

The clever designer even turned two Fendi bags into a Dior-style saddlebag. 

Unsurprisingly, Cho has already caught the attention of Vogue. He told the publication he spends 10 to 12 hours sewing every day to create custom pieces for his clients. Meanwhile, his passion for upcycling started by repurposing old NBA jerseys for himself. Now, people send Cho their luxury items for him to breathe new life into the old pieces. 

“I started to create upcycled NBA pieces for myself, and I wasn’t able to duplicate them at the time,” Cho told Vogue. “This inadvertently forced my business model of reworking the customers’ items. The premise was now stronger: There was sentimental value added that was not offered elsewhere.” 

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