This Woman Created Crop Tops Out Of Stolen Train Seat Covers. We Are All For Pandemic-themed Fashion But This Is Too Much
It’s been almost a year since the coronavirus outbreak hit and if you don’t own a pandemic-inspired clothing like a graphic T-shirt with a quirky quote cursing 2020, you are fashionably late to the club. There has been a plethora of pandemic-themed merch from various brands that are selling like crazy. While some are a cool addition to your wardrobe, as souvenirs of the grave time, others are totally bizarre like the social distancing dress, a beekeeper suit (yes, that’s real). In today’s episode of bizarre clothing items, crop tops made out of train seat covers that had a social distancing message imprinted on them have made an appearance. But wait till you hear the interesting thing. It is no brand that has debuted this outlandish apparel but a 20-year-old fashion student from UK whose creativity knew no bounds. Or morals.
Mhari Thurston-Tyler not just found design inspiration in the most unbelievably strange place—a train but also the fabric that she took home to launch a line of crop top. Let me explain. She took two sleeves from the Chiltern Railway train seats that were blue and read “Keep this seat free to maintain social distancing when possible.” She stitched them into bandeau top, kept one for herself and put the other one for sale for £15 (INR 1500) on a shopping app, Depop which offers second-hand clothes. I sincerely wish she washed the covers before wearing it putting it online, though.
IM CRYIFNKFFG SHE JUST POSTED THIS ??? pic.twitter.com/y3t3jmcoUv
— BLOND JUNGKOOK ♡⁷ GRAMMY NOMINATED BTS (@cinpai) January 8, 2021
Also Read: 5 Times Luxury Brands Duped Us By Passing Off Nonsensical Items As High Fashion.
Mhari posted the description for the top, “Social distancing children railways [sic] crop got a few of these in different sizes. Message me before buying or with questions/offers.” She listed the top fit for UK size 10 and ‘good – used’ under condition (well, obviously by the commuters on the train, lol). The social distancing top looks kinda cool IMO and would have made a stylish pandemic-themed clothing item, if she didn’t legit steal it from the public transport and rather took inspiration and made her own. Which she later did.
After a user reported the product to the British railway company and the Depop app called her out for the advertisement saying it violated their terms and conditions since it was a stolen item, Mhari took the ad down but claimed she didn’t steal it but found the covers lying balled up outside the station. She said, “I didn’t steal it but I understand it’s not right to re-sell it. I have no money at the moment so decided to put the second one on Depop to see if anyone would buy it. I have to resort to little things like this to make ends meet, to pay the bills.”
She refunded the money to the customers and later started selling her own creation inspired (or blatantly copied) by the Railway seat covers in white and branded it under Children Railways. IMO, that’s a brilliant fashion inspiration and it could turn out well if she didn’t steal the covers. The social distancing message on the seats could have made for a creative aesthetic for a pandemic-themed clothing but she took it too far by using the same material for the top. Plus, the covers were touched and rubbed by the backs of million passengers which goes against the whole point of maintaining social distancing and hygiene. So, yeah, we don’t know about her new original launch, but as for the used train seat sleeves as crop tops, we would definitely pass!
