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tHERAPY Recycle & Exorcise: A Female Immigrant-Led Upcycling Project

 

tHERAPY Recycle & Exorcise is an exploration of identity and self-expression through the creative reuse of materials.

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Born in Berlin in 2012 as a form of creative therapy, Therapy expanded to Argentina in 2013, reconnecting us with our roots. It is founded and run by two sisters separated by the Atlantic but united by a shared passion for upcycling: Angie and Poli Aguirre—one based in Berlin, Germany, and the other in Córdoba, Argentina.

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We operate between both locations, sourcing materials locally and producing upcycled and redesigned clothing and accessories in our own ateliers. 90% of our raw materials are second-hand, vintage, or discarded textiles and accessories. Every piece we create is unique or part of a small series, designed beyond trends and gender norms.

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Our designs celebrate human diversity, rejecting imposed beauty standards and mainstream fashion norms. We create fashion that is inclusive, expressive, and sustainable, using materials that would otherwise end up in landfills.

We are women, immigrants, Latinas, and sisters. From this corner of our existence, we work towards a less toxic, more inclusive, and radically authentic fashion industry.

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THE WOMEN BEHIND THE BRAND​​

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Angie studied Communication Sciences in Córdoba, Argentina, before moving to Germany in 2004. A self-made entrepreneur, she has built multiple projects from scratch, blending sustainability, fashion, and activism.

In 2007, she co-founded HOLABERLIN, an incoming tourism venture in Berlin, followed by Green Fashion Tours Berlin, promoting sustainable fashion through educational city tours. From 2014 to 2019, she worked as a volunteer for Fashion Revolution Germany, serving as Head of Social Media and advocating for a more ethical and transparent fashion industry. She remains an active member of Future Fashion Forward e.V., supporting systemic change in fashion. and Circular City – Zirkuläre Stadt e.V., ​a non-profit working on accelerating Berlin’s transition towards a circular city.

In 2012, she founded Therapy Recycle & Exorcise, an upcycling fashion brand that redefines alternative style and sustainability. Together with her sister Poli, she has grown Therapy into an internationally recognized brand and platform for circular fashion, representation, and activism, with physical spaces in Berlin and Argentina.

In 2024, she co-founded RARE Store & Collective, a Berlin-based space dedicated to independent designers, upcycling, and alternative fashion culture. Through her work, Angie continues to challenge industry norms, proving that fashion can be rebellious, sustainable, and community-driven.

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Poli studied Fashion Design and Advertising in Argentina and has built a career that merges fashion, sustainability, and visual communication. She splits her time between Argentina and Berlin, bringing a global perspective to her work.

As a designer and stylist at Therapy Recycle & Exorcise, Poli has been instrumental in shaping the brand’s unique aesthetic—pushing the boundaries of upcycled fashion. She is also a skilled graphic designer, creating bold visual narratives that reinforce Therapy’s rebellious and sustainable ethos.

From 2017 to 2020, Poli served as Country Coordinator for Fashion Revolution Argentina, leading advocacy efforts for transparency and ethical practices in the fashion industry. She originally joined her sister Mariángeles in 2013 to expand Therapy Recycle & Exorcise in Argentina, helping it grow into a cross-continental movement.

In 2025, she will take the lead in launching Therapy’s first dedicated store and event space in Córdoba, Argentina, expanding the brand’s presence and community impact.

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Our Vision

​We envision a world with zero waste, where Design is circular, inclusive, and regenerative, embracing diversity and inclusion at its core. In this future, upcycling is no longer just a response to waste but an integrated design philosophy, ensuring that every garment and material can be reused, transformed, and reintegrated seamlessly.

Beyond sustainability, We envision a world where representation, inclusivity, and empowerment are fundamental. A design system that breaks mainstream beauty and fashion norms, giving space to marginalized voices and diverse identities. By dismantling overproduction and exploitation, we strive for a future where creativity, ethics, and true self-expression thrive—regardless of gender, background, or body type.

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Our Values

• Upcycling & Circularity – Transforming waste into "new" and better products and promoting a regenerative system.

• Sustainability & Climate Action – Committing to a zero-waste future and reducing environmental impact.

• Inclusivity & Diversity – Breaking beauty and fashion norms to represent all identities.

• Empowerment & Self-Expression – Elevating minorities and fostering authentic creativity.

• Ethics & Transparency – Opposing overproduction, exploitation, and unethical industry practices.

• Collaboration & Community – Building a culture of mutual support, believing in "rising by lifting others."

• Post-Capitalist Creativity – Challenging consumerist models with innovative, resourceful design.

• Rebellion & DIY Ethics – Defying mainstream standards through independent, hands-on creation.

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Our Mission

Our mission is to deconstruct the current wasteful, patriarchal and discriminatory design industry by creating bold, experimental, and gender-fluid upcycled clothing, made from discarded textiles. Beyond fashion, we foster a culture of collaboration, believing in “rising by lifting others.” Through our community store, initiatives, and campaigns, we empower underrepresented voices, independent creatives, and the public to embrace design as an act of rebellion, and authenticity. we offer a true alternative—proving that fashion can be both expressive and ethical.

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Our GOALS

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We support the UNSDG's.

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Our work aligns with several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

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We support the SDG 12 – Responsible Consumption & Production

• Upcycling discarded textiles to reduce waste.

• Promoting circular fashion and sustainable alternatives to fast fashion.

• Encouraging conscious consumption through education and transparency.

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We support the SDG 13 – Climate Action

• Reducing carbon emissions by sourcing locally and avoiding mass production.

• Extending garment lifecycles to minimize environmental impact.

• Raising awareness of fashion’s role in the climate crisis.

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We support the SDG 5 – Gender Equality

• Promoting representation of all genders in fashion.

• Creating a safe, inclusive space for diverse identities and self-expression.

• Empowering women and marginalized communities in the industry.

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We support the SDG 8 – Decent Work & Economic Growth

• Supporting ethical labor practices and rejecting exploitative fashion systems.

• Encouraging independent, small-scale, and community-driven economic models.

• Fostering a post-capitalist creative economy focused on sustainability.

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We support the SDG 10 – Reduced Inequalities

• Amplifying underrepresented voices in fashion.

• Challenging traditional beauty norms and industry gatekeeping.

• Ensuring accessibility and inclusivity in sustainable fashion.

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We support the SDG 17 – Partnerships for the Goals

• Collaborating with like-minded brands, artists, and communities.

• Sharing knowledge and resources to strengthen sustainability efforts.

• Building a movement that supports a regenerative fashion system.

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WHAT WE DO​

- We create unique upcycling designs prsented as either individual pieces, capsule collections or yearly post-collections. We call post-collection as the new collections we made out of using our own waste and discards from previous collections.

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- Upcycling services and solutions for individuals, companies and organisations

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- We offer Upcycling workshops, masterclasses and talks about upcycling and entrepreneuship

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- We organise collaborative proyects with different stakeholders, from colleagues to educational institutions to artists.​​

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Being ethical also means being respectful of the work of others, giving credit and recognition.

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through our work and our existence we respect and honor those who worked in this area before us and those who inspired us, recognising their work and their influence and being critical of ourselves so that we never mistake inspiration for COPY. And so we urge those who follow us to have the same respect for the work of those who have come before them. 

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WHAT IS FASHION for us

​Fashion is a form of art, inclusive art.

WE promote creativity, authenticity and a fashion that represents and includes all human beings, respecting planet and animals.

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we promote sex-positivity, body-positivity, diversity and inclusivity. we actively support and give visibility to the lgbtqia+ community and oppressed minorities like us, immigrants and specially immigrant women, trans people and people of colour.

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We are critic towards hetero-normativity, patriarchy and consumerism.

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We believe in a wider vision of beauty than the promoted by mainstream fashion and media.

 

through our items, collections and photo shootings but also with our workshops, tutorials, shared ideas and open source processes we offer an alternative to fast fashion.

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• Fast Fashion is killing our planet.

• fast fashion brands plagiarize new and independent designers. 

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conscious fashion can also be experimental, daring and playful. Alternative fashion can also be conscious and care for the planet.

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We introduced the sustainability issue in a niche few other were talking about it in 2012 and We are a recognizable player in the alternative and club fashion scene and in the MUSIC scene.

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We don't follow trends

​Our aesthetic is eclectic because we work depending on the materials we find, but there are aspects at the core of our work thet never change.

It is as a mixture of underground urban-alternative subcultures and unconvetional lifestyles like BDSM. Because human creativity is strongly sexually-driven. It is driven by our fantasies, our desires, our fears, our love and our anger.  

our intention is to tear down the aesthetic walls that oppress us.

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Our aesthetic is determined by the materials we find. Our process so far has been experimenting and working with all kind of materials, always of course preloved, discarded or vintage materials.

We also work with dead stocks and pre-consumer waste such as industrial waste.

Our ethic is guided by our intersectional vision, and it reflects our intention to redefine the rules of a failed system.

It mixes sustainability and circularity with issues such as inclusivity, body positivity and gender redefinition, criticizing what mainstream media and advertising impose to us as desirable or even "normal".

 

We support a more human, diverse and open source fashion.

 

We are against dehumanization, exploitation, objectivization and commodification of the humans who make and wear fashion and against the careless exploitation of the planet and its resources.

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We at tHERAPY do not only question the way we (mass) produce and (mass) consume, but also heteronormativity, patriarchy, binarism and the exploitation, commodification and objectivization of the human body.

 

our practice questions the dominating economical order where we are educated to compete with one another and aim to eternal linear growth no matter how devastating this is for the earth, its ressources and all forms of life.

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We propose a less egoic, less toxic, more ethic and more human (fashion) system with collaboration, cooperation and circularity as its base, in balance with the planet and the people.

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We have a playful and inclusive approach to fashion through DIY (Do It Yourself) upcycling techniques.

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Why upcycling?

because it simply makes so much sense than making new clothes!

 

it was something happening naturally in our community and our family as  kids. Our greatest inspiration and first contact with upcycling was our grandmother Angeles Maria Perez (Chichina) and, by inheritance of customs, our mother, who passed it on to us.