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MARQUETTE -- Marquette fashion redesigner Lanni Lantto isn't into recycling, she prefers "upcycling."  It's part of a developing movement called "ethical fashion" and it's gaining popularity in Marquette.

Lantto says recycling is using more resources to reproduce something, while upcycling is adding onto something that already exists.

"All you need is a needle and a piece of thread to begin," says Lantto.

Ethical fashion also means no new supplies for Lantto's business, even upcycling the small things like a crooked dress form and pins.

"I try really hard not to buy anything new, which means I can't,” Lantto says.  “If I need a clothing rack, I can't have it unless it’s donated or I can find it at the time that I need it."

In her quest to cut her carbon footprint, she stays local.  She gets most of her materials off the racks of local thrift stores. 

The end result is a saving of thousands of gallons in water, electricity, and carbon pollution.

Lantto has recently been the headliner of an upcycled fashion show in downtown Marquette and has lead a workshop at the Joy Center in Ishpeming.  Joy Center Director, Helen Haskell-Remien, says she's been inspired to recreate her own summer clothing.

"It's really...it's taking off.  We're upcycling,” says Remien.  “We're taking things that maybe we were going to throw away and making them into something that is really fun to wear."

Lantto will lead an upcycling workshop and fashion show Wednesday at 6 p.m. in the Marquette Peter White Library.