About Me

Hi my name is Steph! I started Buckets & Bums in 2019 out of a passion for upcycling and wanting to do better for the planet. 

I’ve been creative for as long as I remember and have loved fashion & sewing since school. Funnily enough a hat was one of the first things I remember making in textiles class. I loved it so much that I studied textiles GCSE. 

Whilst school taught me a lot, my mum probably taught me more! She’s also probably the reason why I discovered a love for sewing and getting creative.

At college I studied Art & Design. My teacher there told me that I’d never progress because I kept skipping life drawing classes! Needless to say I went on to study Fashion & Clothing at a different college and had the absolute best time. I then enrolled onto a Photography for Fashion and Advertising course at university. 

After finishing university I took a job at Boots to pay the bills. This turned into a blur of unfulfilling retail and office jobs. None of which brought me joy. However I was always drawn back to the sewing machine in my spare time and this has inspired me to create this brand along with a passion to slow down fashion. 

If Sloths did fashion 

Buckets & Bums is passionate about tacking waste culture which is why all my bucket hats & bumbags are made from secondhand, vintage and repurposed fabric. Upcycling these fabrics keeps them from entering landfill and gives them new life as your new favourite accessories - Buckets & Bums bucket hats and bumbags. 

I was becoming aware of how plastic is affecting the planet and made a conscious decision to reduce my plastic usage. A couple of years later I found myself reducing my fast fashion consumption and then ditching it entirely. 

For me its all about slow fashion! Very little goes to waste. I try to use all aspects of the clothing I Upcycle. For example I use waistbands as bag straps, skirt zips as bumbag zips and offcuts get upcycled into patchwork bucket hats & bum bags. 

After learning about the staggering amounts of clothing which enters UK landfills every year (350,000 tonnes if you were wondering) I knew I could do something to help reduce this. I’ve never been a stranger to secondhand shopping - I was dragged round the charity shops from a young age. It was a no brainer that I’d only use secondhand, vintage and repurposed fabric to make the bucket hats & bumbags.

Custom Bucket Hats & Bumbags 

I love upcycling old clothing into bucket hats & bumbags and welcome your custom ideas! I want to make your dream bucket hat or bumbag a reality and I’m excited to make whatever it is you’re looking for. Maybe you’d love a festival bucket hat or an 80s bumbag or something I’ve never even thought of.