About
The Falls Bio
if you ask the falls founder and designer leong ong what the falls is about, he might reluctantly answer, saying “blah blah embroidery, blah blah beading, blah blah stitchery, blah blah vintage, blah blah applique, blah blah the hand, blah blah one of a kind, blah blah blah blah magic.” and he might also cheekily add that one can never have too many vintage, reworked or rescued hats, shoes or bags…. (he hates talking about himself and what he does…. )
however underneath this vagary, much like the layered visuals of the work itself, is a more detailed story.
the falls’ philosophy is based around the idea that each unique piece tells a story. we are all about discovery, we have a passion for research, an obsession with vintage and an almost hoarder-ish tendency for collecting. we aim to translate these obsessions into and onto one-of-a-kind and limited runs of reworked vintage clothing.
we fuse found fashion with artful textile storytelling through embellishment. we take diverse, authentic and familiar iconic pieces such as the trucker jacket, the varsity sweatshirt, the shell suit or the kimono, and combine the sometimes absurd (but always beautiful) with the inspiring; hopefully surprising people with the unexpected.
We Believe in Slow Fashion:
• clothing made from curated, high quality, obsessively sourced vintage; taking and rethinking the destroyed and discarded to avoid it winding up in the landfill.
• we work with artisans in the delhi and mumbai area of india, their craftsmanship and techniques that have built up over generations, unequaled by any. at the falls, we strive to ensure that the artisans who we work with are treated fairly.
• we produce only a few specific styles at a time, which are then released as-created, rather than conforming to the unrelenting fashion calendar that asks for many unnecessary collections per year.
• our pieces are designed to last, don’t go on sale, and are intended to be worn for life.
at the falls, we believe that you should invest in your garments for the long term when you are able to. we believe we all should opt for fewer but better items and take care of them so that they last. and perhaps most importantly, we believe in maximizing the life cycle of individual pieces by buying reworked and reused garments, ultimately avoiding those pieces ending up discarded.
radically reducing the need to buy more over time = the single most effective way to minimize consumption.
Carbon Offsetting:
almost all of our products are reclaimed vintage clothing. in the process of up-cycling our pieces, we work with artisan communities in india because of their unmatched skills in embroidery and embellishment. we understand that shipping our garments across the globe adds to our carbon footprint, and therefore, to the climate crisis. to take responsibility for this we have partnered with the gold standard to purchase carbon. our carbon goes directly to rural india to purchase new cooking stoves that reduce carbon from daily household cooking. this is not a perfect solution, but it is a step in the right direction. our promise to you is that we will continue to do our part to both support skilled artisans and to offset the negative impact our shipping has on the environment.