The popular Japanese social commerce recycle shop has come up with another great concept of turning the old and used into design desirables. The new idea will see the staff uniforms from Tokyo’s popular cafe Soup Stock, recycled as new t-shirts featuring exclusive designs.

Both Soup Stock and Pass the Baton are the brain child of the Masamichi Toyama, who also runs the neck tie clothes range Giraffe. Pass the Baton works as a kind of vintage flea market, where members can sell there items which they have become attached to but no longer need, putting a note with a story of why they loved the product being sold. Mostly a social web commerce site they also have two stores in the fashionable districts of Omotesando and Marunouchi (both designed by Wonderwall’s Masamichi Katayama).

Toyama is well known for his design and artistic flair having designed all 35 of the Soup Stock cafe interiors himself. The t-shirts, which would normally go to waste as used items, have been redesigned and given a new lease of life by designer Tetsuya Chihara, who has worked on a number of fashion designs in the past. There are 4 different designs to choose form including “Tokyo Borscht”, my personal favourite t-shirt name!

The idea of taking iconic old uniforms and redesigning them into limited edition items is a great idea. This could easily be expanded into other areas such as the delivery companies uniforms or convenience store shirts. Collaborating with famous designers this wouldn’t just be a nice bit of CSR for the companies but actually a decent source of revenue from what would normally just go to waste.

The folks from Japanese research collaboration Life Beans yesterday displayed their nanotech fiber clothes at the Micromachine/ MEMS exhibition at Tokyo Big Sight. On display was a dress that incorporated nanotechnology which can be used to heat or cool the wearer, and ultimately allow the whole dress to become an electrical device itself.

BEANS or Bio Electomechanical Autonomous Nano Systems, is a collaboration project between a number of universities and science institutes throughout Japan and are the same team responsible for the glowing glucose tracking mouse ear. The technology on display yesterday incorporates a new fabrication process that allows more flexible layers of conductive cells within clothes. Woven into dresses or protective vests, for example, mean that the wearer can be cooled or heated depending on the temperature by activating the nanocells and also enable the transference of electronic data through the clothes themselves. 

The nanotechnology in the clothes is capable of being utilized in a variety of ways, including turning the article of clothing into a mobile phone complete with GPS, recording data for sports and health care, or even ubiquitous data exchange by using the fabric as the circuit board itself. With the advancement in flexibility and the ability to weave the layers of conductive materials into fabrics, wearable technology could be integrated into normal everyday clothes.

Communication clothing is a growing area where, as we are increasingly seeing, fashion and electronics become closer combined together. As we rely on electronic data and portable devices more and more in our lives and jobs this type of advancement in technology will be pushing the boundaries of how we communicate with our devices in the future.

Japan just got an 8.9 magnitude earthquake on last March 2011, hit and destroy so many infrastructure and factory. Fashion, as one of Japan icon, was serious effected from the earthquake.

The devastating earthquake that struck Japan has cast doubt on the status of next week’s planned Tokyo Fashion Week 2011 A/W events. We’ve been hearing from reporters and photographers who are set to cover fashion week that they’ve already received several individual show cancellation notices for events that were supposed to happen this week.

The official Japan Fashion Week in Tokyo runway shows and presentations are scheduled to kick off next week, but it’s still not clear at this time if JFW will go on as scheduled or not.

Japan Fashion Week in Tokyo after earthquake

But Japan is not alone facing this disaster. Many celebrities around the world are showing their hand to help Japan. What can celebs and artiste do ? Many celebrities began to create an art product or fashion items to sell as a donation to Japan

A lot of famous designers including Tory Birch and Anna Sui, to thousands of lesser-known artists at Web sites like cafepress.com, New Yorkers are creating products and donating portions of the profits to Japanese earthquake and tsunami relief.

For ceramic artist Ayumi Horie, the day after the Japanese earthquake was the day she started plotting a creative way to raise money for Japan. On the phone from her Hudson Valley studio, Horie sounded sleep-deprived after working 18-20 hours a days int he days following the quake to organize an online auction called Handmade for Japan. Horie enlisted her friends Ai Kanazawa Cheung and Kathryn Pombriant Manzella, plus a team of 15 volunteers in New York and San Diego to recruit artists and maintain a social media presence with a goal of raising $25,000.

American popular singer Lady Gaga also take part. She has designed a bracelet that says “We pray for Japan” in both English and Japanese. It costs $5, but you can make an additional donation at purchase. According to Gaga Daily, the bracelet – which will ship around March 25 – has raised $250,000 so far.

Buy Lady Gaga Japan Earthquake Bracelet here

Lady Gaga designed a “We Pray For Japan” prayer bracelet, buy yours now for $5 in the web store and all proceeds go to Japan tsunami relief.

Gaga is the latest celebrity to reach out and help shed light on the devastation left by the tragic events in Japan. Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, Adam Lambert, Diddy and many more sent their prayers to those affected via Twitter. Britney Spears encouraged fans to donate to relief organizations, tweeting, “So tragic. My heart is breaking for Japan.”

“Just heard about the huge earthquake and tsunami in Japan,” Kim Kardashian wrote. “My prayers are with everyone in Japan. Seeing all of this footage in Japan is devastating! Please help the people of Japan by texting REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation.”

Japan worldwide fashion brand Uniqlo (whose CEO Tadashi Yanai already donated $26 million) and Comptoir des Cotonniers as well as design brand Theory will be accepting clothes donations at their stores worldwide.

A website named Handmade for Japan also help Japan donation by selling an item. Handmade For Japan was born out of concern for Japan’s residents by Japanese-American ceramic artist Ayumi Horie. She, Ai Kanazawa Cheung, and Kathryn Pombriant Manzella have mobilized to solicit, promote, and auction handmade pieces of art generously donated by talented artists throughout North America and Japan.

Handmade For Japan’s GlobalGiving Fundraiser

Paper cranes made of subway maps, grocery store flyers and other materials made by studens in Jackson Heights, Queens. (Courtesy of Handmade for Japan)

Watch Lady Gaga Designs Bracelet for Japan Relief Video here