LOTI is Starting an Upcycling Revolution

May 13, 2022

Many people can be characterized by their affinity for the finer things in life, but it takes true skill to be able to assess the mundane and identify the potential it has to become a fine work of art. Lottie Bertello is characterized by the latter.

What began as a hobby of crafting old men's button downs into on-trend pieces blossomed into LOTI, and has spurred an infectious upcycling revolution.

LOTI is a Peruvian-made, LA-based brand which fuses both Lottie’s upbringing with her passion for bringing novel concepts to the fashion realm.

Her designs are consistently comfortable and effortless — two of the tenets that Lottie always aims to achieve within the label. But what really supersedes silhouette or shape is the desire to better the industry, one conscious practice at a time.

Interview by Kayla Curtis-Evans
Photos Courtesy of LOTI

office sat down with brand founder and designer, Lottie, to get a sneak peak at the new SS22 collection and discuss what it means to take a stand for better practices in the fashion industry.

LOTI is Peruvian made and LA based — how do you reconcile these two identities and backgrounds?

I would actually add a third identity, which is Italian — so I think it's three identities. Peru has inspired me in a lot of the social aspects, as well as how I kind of wanted to structure the brand. Because, of course, there's a design side, but a brand can stand for so much more than that, which is why I decided I wanted to make everything in Peru, in order to create jobs. Honestly, it's not only to create jobs, it's to connect with the community there as well. I'm meeting so many new people that I'm so impressed by and there's so much talent there. My heart gets a little more full the more work I do — there's an indescribable feeling of working with Peruvian people. I moved to the United States when I was 15, so I am at this point where in the United States, I am Peruvian and in Peru I am American. I feel like a lot of people have this identity crisis. But I think it translates into the brand positively. Living in California has opened me up to wearing brighter colors and to experimenting a little bit more with my style. There are definitely subcultures and subgroups in Latin American countries that allow people to explore their identity more through fashion, but it's not something that I personally grew up with in Peru. Fitting in and looking like the others was definitely 'better.' So as a person that really loved fashion, that was kind of difficult at times. But now there's much less of that. And again, there are these subgroups, especially the people that I'm meeting in Peru through the brand, which has brought me so much closer to understanding the big picture of Peru. Growing up in Lima was a bubble. So through LOTI, I'm getting to know Peru better.

I love that this collection is all about embracing comfort. How do you feel about the current tide of the industry moving toward more casual wear becoming the norm?

I mean, personally, I love it. I just think for designers, it's so important to be aware of the times and the culture and what's happening around us. Of course, these past two years, a lot has happened. So staying aware is really important. I mean, if you look at history, this is always happening. You can tell a lot of what is going on in the world by how people were dressed, which I love. So that's coming into play here now. I took it a step further and I went back to looking at a lot of my vintage nightwear pieces, which this collection is inspired by. I am a big vintage collector, so I have a lot of these gorgeous pieces. And, of course, the materials that I upcycle, which are made of 100% cotton — the super breezy and crisp quality lends itself well to this kind of style. Effortless has always been a word that I've used to vet my design process, and for this collection, we added the qualities of elegant and comfortable too. Those three characteristics were really important for this collection.

It definitely looks like everything has that effortless, cool vibe to it. You talked about upcycling materials, which was a big draw to the brand, for me. Why was incorporating sustainability integral to you when creating LOTI?

To be completely honest, if I didn't figure out exactly the kind of positive impact that I wanted my brand to make, I wouldn't have started it at all. I personally care a lot about textile waste reduction. I think that comes from being from Peru. Peru is one of the countries that clothing just gets dumped to. You know, here in America, we say, 'Oh, we're donating. We're giving it away,' but there's no such thing as 'away;' clothes don't just disappear. They go to countries like Peru. So I see it in my country and then also through working in the industry here, we would go thrifting a lot and vintage shopping for inspiration samples. When I used to work in corporate fashion here in LA, that exposed me to seeing the sheer quantities of volume that gets thrown away. So I knew I wanted to tackle textile waste reduction. The sustainability umbrella is huge. And I actually think it only works when a brand is focusing on one or two aspects — a couple of things that they can do really well. If not, it's not actually moving the needle or making an impact. So we are an upcycling design studio. That's what I call the brand because we're also an education platform for the general textile waste crisis. How do we do better with our clothes and our choices regarding the fashion industry?

If I didn't figure out exactly the kind of positive impact that I wanted my brand to make, I wouldn't have started it at all.

I love that you brought up this educational aspect because that is so, so important to be that beacon in the industry. Two of the things that LOTI focuses on are this zero-waste factor and expelling a minimal carbon footprint — can you tell me a little bit more about both of those things?

Of course. I do actually want to start changing the terminology of zero-waste to minimal waste because part of being transparent is being completely honest. We started using the terminology zero-waste because aside from our primary fabrics already being scraps from production from factories, we were using our own scraps to make smaller accessories. So I wanted to showcase how special these accessories are because they're made from scraps of scraps. But ultimately, is it zero-waste? Are there still little things that get left behind even when making these accessories? Yes. And that is an honest answer. So now I would like to shift to minimal waste because that also sounds a lot more attainable. I never want to mislead anyone. Right now, you don't actually end up with zero-waste. There are still threads and little things that we haven't figured out how to use. We do save it all because I think one day I will figure it out, whether it's stuffing for a cushion or even donating it to a business that can do something with it that is maybe not necessarily fashion. It doesn't all have to stay within fashion. But one thing we will always do is figure out an item to produce to be able to use our own production scraps.

And then you mentioned carbon footprint — I have a little story for that. When I first started upcycling, I went to a Goodwill and I saw racks filled with pristinely pressed men's dress shirts that honestly looked new. That really impacted me. And at that time, I was thinking of upcycling — I was like, 'How can I do this? How do I incorporate this into a business?' So that day I bought 300 of those shirts. I think it took me almost a year to develop the aesthetic, using upcycling, that I wanted to develop for the brand. We ended up upcycling over a thousand men's dress shirts from the Goodwill outlets. But when it came time for me to take these shirts to the United States to sell, I was like, 'Wait a second. There's a disconnect here.' Yes, the intention of upcycling men's shirts is great. But I saw a red flag already — air travel has a huge carbon footprint. It was actually my dad who brought up this point, he said, 'Peru is a textile hub; I'm sure you can use someone's garbage.' So then I actually knocked on a lot of doors of factories in Peru. Most of them were not interested — but a couple of them were, one of them being the biggest vertically-integrated, 100% cotton producer in Peru. They actually have all of the sustainability certifications that I would want a factory that I'm working with to have. So that was a huge added bonus. Now we directly upcycle all of their manufacturing scraps and their damaged rolls of fabric. So our textiles are in Peru and we avoid all of that air travel, which was huge for me.

It's a learning experience and you found your way — I think that's amazing. You were also able to bring it back home by figuring out that everything you needed was right there.

Yeah, and now we have other factories that are like, 'We care and we want to be a part of this too. We know sustainability is the future. How can we partner?' So we've actually partnered with a boutique factory in Peru that makes shoes and uses leather. Their leather is ethically sourced and we've vetted that from the beginning. So now we're going to be doing some accessories in patchwork leathers from their production scraps. We're very excited about that as well.

Do you have any plans to expand into any more accessories past bags?

Yeah, definitely. And they are wanting to help us develop that. Again, it's a boutique factory, so it's a very small kind of family-run factory, so I feel comfortable with that. Right now, we actually don't work with any factories. I've built my team from scratch, which I'm really proud of because it's created this bond between all of us. We all want to see LOTI do well. Everyone puts so much heart and soul into everything we do and the boutique factory also operates in the same way. They toured me around a few times and I felt it in my gut that it was the right thing — I saw no red flags. I see lots of green ones actually — so much willingness to want to do better. But we actually do have more accessories that we've done ourselves. We have our silk bras, so these are made out of men's ties. We also have our silk head-pieces. And our newest development, which is not an accessory, but I'll show it to you because it has to do with the ties. We created a tie dress. She's truly a work of art. It's taken us over five months to develop her and the fit is great. We're trying to get all of our upcycled pieces to that standard, to be really competitive with non-upcycled pieces and just as beautiful and well-made.

How has Peruvian culture and influences from the city of Lima made their way into your designs? Do you take any inspiration from the colors or the sounds of the city, and how does that manifest into the product?

I think that's always an interesting question, just because generally, I think when you say, 'I'm a Latin designer,' people expect a certain aesthetic from you. But then you have designers like Jacquemus; he's French, but not all of his collections are directly inspired by France or aesthetically look French. We want there to be more space for Latin American design to be able to just design freely without the pressure of 'looking' Latin American, because, ultimately, my designs and my collection are Peruvian because I am Peruvian and the people who make them are Peruvian. But I do think it's inevitable for a place like Peru to inspire design just because it is so beautiful and rich in culture and textiles. In this case, Peru is providing me with the textiles. So that's already a huge aspect that I'm taking design-wise from there, for sure. And Peru is so diverse — for example, I grew up in Lima, so it wouldn't be authentic for me to be inspired directly by Cuzco or somewhere else. These countries are just like the United States in that every state is so, so different. But Lima is wonderful and beautiful. The people mostly inspire me and street style in Lima definitely gets my brain moving and I will snap little things here and there with my memory.

We want there to be more space for Latin American design to be able to just design freely without the pressure of 'looking' Latin American.

It seems that you have an eye for seeing the potential in an otherwise mundane item, so what has been your biggest upcycling success thus far? Maybe it's the tie dress?

I mean, in aesthetics, it is the tie dress just because it took so much. Ties come cut on the bias, which is the hardest cut to work with — each little panel in the tie dress is cut on the bias. So that was a construction challenge and a design challenge. It was also a sourcing challenge to get all these ties. It had challenges all around. So I think I am the most proud of that. But in terms of impact, I am really, really proud of the connections we are now making with the factories. I now see how we can make such a big impact. I look at all of the textiles that we have and I think of where they could have ended up, and it makes me so happy to know that now there are pieces that I truly, truly love and that so many other people are really loving as well.

And it has to be so fulfilling now, knowing that the scope of the impact that you can have is maybe even larger than you first expected.

Another cool concept has been to be able to help people rethink upcycling. We want people that would've otherwise thought, 'Oh, upcycling isn't for me,' to change their minds, and think, 'This brand is doing it a little differently — I feel more comfortable this way.' Ideally, we want more people to have upcycled products in their everyday rotations.

It's so amazing to be able to present this new way of consumption to people. What characterizes this collection visually and aesthetically and what else do you think makes it different from some of your previous collections?

All of our pink pieces, which is the main color for this collection, are dyed. So that's new for us. I am actually also a textile designer. So my textile background really does help when figuring out how I want to upcycle these pieces. We have been working with an amazing person named Carlos in Lima. He has a small dye studio and we've been dying pieces there. We are doing garment dyes at low saturations, in order to unify the garments in our specific color, but still be able to see the personality of each fabric. You know, we want to celebrate upcycling. That’s who we are. That’s our brand DNA. So we landed on a 40% saturation dye that still lets each fabric have their own personality. Carlos works out of his home studio in Lima and he is new to all of these sustainable practices, but he's open to it. So what we're going to be doing with him is figuring out the best methods. A lot of what is so meaningful about LOTI is working with people — people to people. In my gut, he felt like the right decision. I'm so happy we get to work with him.

What do you hope that the brand can teach other brands or maybe show other brands as leading by an example?

Hopefully, we can show other brands that the fashion system at its core is broken and was built off of profiting from our non-renewable resources and people's hard work — ultimately, it is capitalism at its finest. We can change those systems. We should change those systems if we want fashion to be a positive industry that we can all feel good about and celebrate. I think that can be a scary thought, especially for someone that hasn't necessarily worked in the industry or has had like the background of going to school for fashion. But so much of it is trial and error. So I think if you're a new brand, it is the time to completely rework the system and disrupt, because the current systems are not working and people are responding well to disruption. So, I guess, don't be afraid to be different. It is a lot of work and it is a lot of problem-solving. But as I said before, you don't have to do it all. I'm not here saying that we are doing everything perfectly. My focus right now is on textile waste reduction and ethical production and community. Do we want to expand to more things? Yes. But that will come in time because we need to make it sustainable for us. But as long as you are starting off by prioritizing these things as the core model of your brand, you'll be okay.

Fashion

Happy 424 Day!

Simon Rasmussen — What's going on?

Guillermo Andrade — Right now we're just setting everything up.

So, what are you doing, is it a party?

Well, I kind of felt universally forced, right? Because 4/24/24, I was just like, I don’t really have a choice here. The stars also just kind of aligned, so to be honest, I got this settlement that came with a bunch of clothes so I had this idea to give back to the kids who fuck with us by allowing them to buy our shit first. Not handing stuff out for free, but to do it in a way where we could skip the middleman of the industry, so to speak, and not allow clothes to disappear into the abyss of Farfetch or whatever else. So what we’re going to do is a sort of warehouse sale, which we’ve never done before so that was really exciting for me. I didn’t want to do just another warehouse sale, so it’s like a sample sale turns rager. We teamed up with Adidas and a couple of other sponsors, then drinks, DJs, and a performance.

Sick, I love it.

Yeah. My dream sample sale. Also, it’s not just hoodies and t-shirts here in there, it’s proper collections from the past three seasons. I’m also not picking and choosing, trying to make it accessible, like this was the only way I could afford to buy shit when I was a kid, bro. Sample sales were the thing I looked forward to the most.

I feel you. In New York, there's the annual CDG sale, which is when I used to cop all my CDG.

The only time I could afford Rick. I flew to New York once for a Rick sample sale and I was like, Wow, I can't believe I got invited. And it was mental. I still have those pieces. I will never sell them. Not even because I got 'em cheap. It was also just really fun. Even on the flight to New York, I was like, I can't believe I'm going to New York for a sample sale, what a fucking loser I am. But it was like the adult version of when I was a kid and I was like, Wow, I can't believe I'm 20-something and I'm still doing the thing I was doing in high school. So I hope we can create moments like that for kids here in LA.

Yeah. I love that. It’s important to connect with them; they’re essentially creating the brand. If you don't have them, good luck.

I mean, yeah. Fuck, bro. It's cool that we've been around for this long. I mean, it got a little rocky there for a second I think, for all of us. So coming out of it, tomorrow is a celebration. And it’s like an odd day of the week. It's a Wednesday, super random. And now that we've set it up, the homies are all like, Yo, I'm coming. I'm coming. Let me jump on stage, let me do this, and that's really what it's always been about. It's not some other strategy to get likes on the internet.

That’s how the best things happen, you just couldn’t help yourself. It was intuitive.

Yeah, it all came together in a really nice way.

Would you say that’s how 424 started as well? I remember we met in like 2010 on Fairfax and I was visiting with Rasmus…

Oh bro, it’s probably the time when I started the branch… do you remember Cecilia from Black Dakini? She’s the one that introduced me to CIFF and honestly, I didn’t even care what she was doing, I was just like, I’m coming, I’ll go with you. She said she’d give me half of her booth and I said, Awesome count me in. At the time, I had just gotten my green card and I wasn't allowed to ever leave America, so Copenhagen was one of the first cities I went to when I could finally travel. I mean, you see what we did at CIFF bro? It became our fucking hub for half a decade.

That was a moment for sure.

I remember the first account I got was Antonioli, and he came super gangster, being like, You're going to sell me these clothes. And I was like, bro, I didn't come to sell clothes. I'm just kind of catching a vibe with my homie and I made these things. And he's like, No, you're going to sell it to me. And then I was like, Oh my god that’s Claudio Antonioli. So then I went home, I googled wholesale, and figured that shit out. [laughs]

[Laughs]

Like you said, I couldn't help myself, but I didn't just make t-shirts and hoodies either. I was really on my Rick wave, so I made my version of the Rick things. It was that meets like The Boondock Saints, because I'm still a little bit of a Cali bro, sort of rock kid, but not really. I like hip-hop, but I like the way the rock stars look. I like the contrast. I thought it was cool. After that, I just never stopped.

It was clear to me when I first met you that you were onto your own thing in LA. It made a lot of sense, and it was so cool. It was before 424 was its own brand; you just had the store and this really cool curation.

It was all my shit, bro. I was very, very invested in sharing all of these things that I was finding from all over the world, like Astrid Anderson. She was one of those designers at the time, so important to 424. The connection to Copenhagen specifically for me was huge. I had a big fan base there. It was incredible. And then here in LA, we were sharing the things that we were a part of and finding; it was still the early days of Fear of God, Rhude, Martine Rose. A lot of these brands, we were the first store to ever sell it — we were selling Hood By Air on the West Coast.

You had Rick as well, I remember.

Oh yeah. It took me a long time. But I got Rick, bro. By the time I had to close the store on Fairfax, I already had a Raf Simons account. I had reached my ultimate dream. It was really all the stuff I wanted to wear at the time. It was dope. The best of the best.

We had an office magazine newsstand in there as well.

Oh yeah, we did! I came to visit the one you had, and I was like, Yo, I got to bring this whole fucking thing over here. But yeah, in LA, after two days people forget you exist, but everyone’s been super supportive. We’re all 10 years older now. We've been around forever at this point.

It can be dangerous to take those breaks when you’re figuring shit out, but there’s something very genuine to this comeback you’re having.

Thank you, thank you. We’ve been in and out of those fucking showrooms in Paris for long enough. I've been in and out of these factories for the past 10 years of my life. We had to figure something out. And I think now really diving in, being in Italy full time and being there to develop these products over time, I think that the whole thing just really shows the suppliers respect you more. The people who are making your goods understand why you're making them. And I think now I finally got to the place where I'm not making Italian things, I’m making my clothes, I'm making Cali-centric shit, but with that European technicality and execution. With this Fall / Winter collection, it clicked.

So what’s the vision for the next year? What are you manifesting?

I'm just fucking relentless, bro. This is the way I want to live my life. Now that we are more aligned, more prepared, and have more experience, moving forward it is just more of becoming a fully functioning company that can provide and create opportunities for all of the people around me. We’ve been operating just on instinct for a long time.

Sustaining a business is scary, trust me I know.

Scary as fuck, dog. I just opened a store next to Bottega, bro, and it’s like what am I even doing? You have to just believe in the thing you're doing more than anybody else.

100%, and it seems like that’s what you’re doing.

And fashion’s kind of a competitive sport, as much as people don’t think it is. We can reach a certain level without losing ourselves. My biggest ambition at the moment is to create something that, when you leave one of our neighbors you come into our place you don’t feel that the level has been sacrificed at all. And it’s not easy.

Definitely. I wish I could be there tomorrow.

Thank you, bro. 10 years now. You’ve always shown me so much love. We have to do a booth or have the office part of the next 424 day. Shit let’s do a 424 day in New York.

That would be sick. Let's do it. I'm here. Let’s catch up soon.

Next season’s right around the corner so I’ll see you in Paris.

Yes, see you in Paris and Happy 424 day!

Fashion

Luis De Javier's Puta Takeover

April 25, 2024

Last night with Luis De Javier, guests were overheard confirming this generation's most vital conundrum: “If I’m cunt, I can still be pussy.” “And if you’re pussy, you can still be cunt.” This sentiment echoed throughout the night as we celebrated De Javier’s first-ever streetwear collection, "Puta". We spent seven hours at Ella Funt at a dinner turned party that only he could’ve thrown (co-hosted by emcee). It was too dark for even the most aspiring-to-look-mysterious of us to wear sunglasses inside. Under the semi-oppressive flash of party photographers, we danced as much as the space would allow, drank tequila out of teacups and kissed each other on the cheeks with a vaguely European intimacy. “I’m doing streetwear!” De Javier could be heard exclaiming — whether it be in disbelief or excitement, we couldn’t tell you.

Words and photos by Izzy Capulong

The Spanish-born London-based designer has been well-loved for his genderless tailoring, latex mastery, and overall message of empowerment. Dressing everyone from ravers to A-listers, De Javier’s latest drop pushes his design repertoire to a new level. “While designing for my celebrity clientele and showcasing my creations on the runway has always been my dream,” he notes, “It’s equally important to me that my brand resonates with a wider, more diverse audience.” While this collection’s medium has shifted from corsets to sweatshirts, the classic LDJ avant-garde sensibilities remain. Bikinis and booty shorts are shamelessly emblazoned with “PUTA,” blazers are constructed with ample shoulder padding, and I had my eye on the cheekily-named “Faguette Bag.”

The Puta collection will be available exclusively on emcee.

Fashion

Nadia Lee Cohen Celebrates Paris Texas Launch at the Chateau

To celebrate the launch, Cohen and founder and creative director of Paris Texas, Annamaria Brivio hosted an intimate dinner at the Chateau Marmont pictured below. Arman Naféei entertained guests throughout the evening with a special playlist he curated for the occasion.