If living in the city of Philadelphia has taught me anything, it’s that our streets hate bicycles.
Whether it’s a SEPTA bus trying to run you over, the bike lane just magically disappearing in the middle of a road or busting your brand new tube within hours of replacement even if you have memorized the shattered glass/pothole/trash clad regions of Washington Ave and have taken every precaution to carefully avoid them, the streets of Philadelphia are not so kind to our 2-wheeled friends.
Now, we’ve seen our fair share of bicycle tube upcycling here at SU, but if 2010 proves to be the year that designers start thinking outside of the box, or outside of the tube for that matter, then Portland designer, Julien Jaborska should be noted as one of the designers not only ahead of the trend, but ahead of the tread.
Meet Julien’s Bicycle Tire Belt, upcycled from broken bicycle tires and sold on both etsy and cosaverde (built to last and for a wonderfully fair price compared to leather belts!). A former bike mechanic and east coast native, Jaborska told Sexy Upcycling that he couldn’t stand to see great looking bicycle parts such as tires, gears and chains get tossed in the trash just because they were broken. After he made his first bicycle tire belt, he knew he had a good thing going, and we knew it was Sexy Upcycling at first site!
“My wife and friends thought the workmanship was pretty good and convinced me to sell them on Etsy which I’ve been doing since. At first it was a nice little side income, but now that I’ve moved cross country I’m trying to make it a full time thing”, Julien told us.
Jaborska has plans to build his brand, Rebyclist,with his super cool bike belts and cog coasters and by also expanding with some new products to come in the near future and tells us he has some interesting ideas for clocks. Another wonderful tale of going from an upcycler to a business owner, I can’t get enough!
If you or anyone you know has started a business out of the love of trash, please feel free to send us a message over here! We’d love to hear your story!
Seriously this blog is amazing. Itβs obvious that you have put a lot of hard-work into it and I just want to thank you for your dedication and hard work! Kudos and keep up the good work!
Thanks so much WSOT! π Feel free to send us any tips or suggestions π