By now you all know that I don't believe our current rate of resource consumption is sustainable.
I believe that money as a medium of exchange is useful, but I wonder how we can pivot to an economy that is more sustainable and more just. It seems to me that we as humans have set up our whole economy - actually our whole society - on consumption. As the pandemic just demonstrated, if I don't consume, someone else will not eat.
In the previous blog post, I solicited a government perspective on reuse and asked about the economic incentives around reuse. In this one, I talked to Kristen McCoy, co-owner of Rethink Tailoring and Sewing Lounge, which helps people upcycle their current wardrobe. I talked to her about how you turn reuse into a successful business.
Kristen has been upcycling for a long time. She grew up on a farm. There wasn't a fabric store nearby and not a lot of disposable income either. Kristen wanted to sew and she made purses and the like from hand-me-down clothes from her sisters. "This was what I had around. I didn't realize I was being an artist," she said.
When Kristen started sewing clothes she found it harder than she imagined and she stuffed a number of unfinished projects in her closet. That prompted her to enroll in an apparel technology program at Minneapolis Community Technical College.
At MCTC, she realized that polyester and PETE 1 water bottles (the clear ones) were the same thing and we could recycle food containers, but we didn't recycle cheap blouses. Later years took her to Washington DC, where she says she "accidentally" started a tailoring business as a result of people wanting to alter clothes purchased in a vintage shop she worked at.
Kristen has thought a lot about the environmental impacts of clothing and the working conditions of those making it. "We are so far removed from our garments and how they are made," she said. "Twenty dollars is not a reasonable price for an article of clothing. To do that you have to sacrifice quality and fair labor."
I have found upcycling time consuming. Some of the upcycled dresses I made last winter took two to three times longer than if I had purchased new fabric. So I asked Kristen how, given the labor involved, upcycling becomes economically viable for a business owner.
Rethink Tailoring is a relatively new business that opened its physical doors right before the Covid 19 pandemic so Kristen is still waiting to see if the business is profitable. Her business model involves a variety of services she hopes will provide different sources of revenue. For those who are interested in sewing their own projects, Kristen offers both classes and coaching sessions. Because she has formally studied apparel construction, she knows things that a self-taught sewist may not and can teach them.
For projects that she or her staff sew themselves, she is working from existing material so customers pay for labor. Kristen employs people locally and pays a fair wage. Many of the items that people bring to her to refashion have sentimental value so people are willing to invest in them.
When Kristen worked in Washington DC, she tailored new garments, but she know that her passion is upcycling and she has decided that is where she will spend her time. While doing that she has found that a community of people that are interested in reuse and sustainability and she believes that every garment that someone upcycles is a "step in the right direction."
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