Discarding valuable material such as textiles and garments is common in everyday life without reflection, perhaps even more so with the letting go of valuable unmaterials such as memories and emotions. The aim of this master’s degree work WITH(OUT) YOU is to explore nostalgia as a storytelling design method within fashion design. By interpreting, translating, re-capturing and upcycling unmaterial human interactions from photographic, written and auditorial mediums, combined with traditional upcycling of materials, this work aims to evoke feelings of identification and/or empathy in dress. All in order to highlight the importance of unmaterial and material memory as social and environmental values. The research was conducted using developed methods from creative writing applied to pronto mediums which directed the practical work. The work resulted in 12 stories communicating a range of memories, relationships and events, showcasing presence and absence on and by bodies through a variation in garments, materials, textures, colors and placements, using hands for both shape, display and symbolic meaning. By contributing to the development of the upcycling field of fashion design, this work does not only broaden the perspective of what upcycling can involve, but also adds to the discussion of what fashion design could be by blurring the line between design and art, questioning the purpose of garments by exploring its therapeutic values.