By Jessy Humann

You can read this full article in our print issue which you can Pre-order here.

Textile waste in the fashion industry has been a hot topic for some time now, and for a good reason. According to Fashion Revolution, an estimated 92 million tons of textile waste are created annually, and one garbage truck full of textiles is burned every second around the world.   

Traditionally, the fashion industry has turned a blind eye to fabric waste, but as people begin to care more about the future of our planet, new solutions continue to pop up in an effort to solve age-old problems. In New York City alone, residents and businesses throw away almost 1.4 billion pounds of textiles every year. This isn’t sustainable in the short or long-term, and it’s the people who take initiative to fix problems like this that will help make cities and industries more sustainable.  

To help solve the problem of textile waste in New York City, Jessica Schreiber founded FABSCRAP, a one-stop textile reuse and recycling company in Manhattan. Although FABSCRAP is technically a 501(c) 3 charitable organization, they flip the traditional non-profit model by charging a service fee that allows them to collect fabric from businesses that create textile waste and give it to students, designers, artists, and crafters. The service fee that businesses pay to have their textile waste picked up is tax-deductible.   

Here’s how it works: 

● FABSCRAP provides businesses with reusable bags that they can fill with their textile waste. 

● Once the bags are full, the businesses schedule a time for their filled bags to be picked up and FABSCRAP collects them. 

● Some of the fabric scraps will be recycled to create things like insulation, carpet padding, or furniture lining.

● Other scraps will be reused by students, artists, designers, sewers, or crafters.  

The FABSCRAP Shop in Manhattan, which is located near the garment district and design schools, serves as a fabric thrift store where people can shop for fabric. FABSCRAP collects unwanted and unused fabric from over 400 fashion, interior, and entertainment companies, including unused material from brands like Eileen Fisher, Marc Jacobs, Mara Hoffman, and Macy’s. On average, they collect over 5,000 pounds of textile scraps per week… 

You can read this full article in our print issue which you can Pre-order here.

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