In her studio in Brownsburg, Jess Cottongim, the founder of Reclaim and Rethread, is turning tablecloths into a pair of pants. She says she finds quality material by buying secondhand.
"Every time I go sourcing, I save hundreds of pounds of textiles and then they all come here and get washed and reworked," she said.
Cottongim's strategy is part of a global effort to combat textile waste. 92 million tons of textile waste is produced across the world every year, according to the United Nations Environment Programme.
Cottongim says new material is often low quality, thanks to the influence of fast fashion. By thrifting, she can find better material for an affordable price.
"Like even a quilt, somebody put so much time and effort into that, and it was one step away from the landfill at some of these places that I'm finding these materials at, and I saved it. And now it's in somebody's closet, you know, people are gonna wear it for years," Cottongim said.
Cottongim is also one of the founders of Destination Danville, a festival that showcases small businesses and artists. She's a vendor at the festival too, and said she'd seen one of her best sales days in over a decade. She credits social media for bringing awareness to fast fashion's negative impact on the industry.
"I think people are really opening up to it," she said. "And that makes me happy that everybody's more open-minded to upcycling and secondhand clothing." ...
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