What’s something that drives you nuts that your company does/doesn’t do/ COULD do around your manufacturing?
I’ll go first:
We have goods that we didn’t use, for lots of reasons ( it happens!) some of those goods are proprietary. We just destroy that stuff. The customer we purchased it for doesn’t want it back or it’s not cost effective and, because of our agreement with the customer we can’t use it for anything else.
I’m trying to figure out someone who would buy our liability (queen of raw etc). Past that I"m trying to find a way to get more info from the boss to see if I can figure something out but it’s kind of a challenge.
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That’s sad!!! 
If its printed fabric can you print over it? if its elastic can you use it in encased waist bands? I worked at an office where our textiles person would donate extra fabrics to fashion students and quilting clubs they just sign something stating that items will not be sold. Why destroy it, when there’s nothing wrong with it?
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It’s mostly solid and mostly dark colors, so adding prints would be hard. The biggest issue with donating is that the fabric isn’t here, it’s in Asia, and paying for the freight to get it back here is, currently, a no-go.
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Where are you located? There is a recycling place in Brooklyn called Fabscrap that will take all kinds of textile leftovers. Logo/proprietary textiles can be shredded for processing into things like industrial insulation, yardage and other saleable items they have retail & online outlets for, some is made available to educational purposes.
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Good idea there are the same plants in China and India. That will take all kinds of fabrics. I saw something on linked-in about a company recycling t-shirts and denim to make new fabrics. I think they pay for some scarps also like when you turn in soda cans for credit.
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My company would otherwise throw away remnants, test pieces, etc. When they found out that I sew, it stays out of the landfill, and I also distribute to teachers, other sewists, and I’m starting my own upcycled line of totes and tees.
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I can understand the company’s position if they are using proprietary fabrics or prints. Other than that, what a waste.
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