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."
Other similar artists are seeing their businesses grow. Jess McGregor, owner of Cornflower Print Co. in West Lafayette, screen prints her own designs onto thrifted clothing.
McGregor started screenprinting as a hobby in college. Then over the years, through different jobs, medical issues and a pandemic, it became a small business.
"I'm not making bank, but I'm doing pretty well for myself and it's been growing steadily each year. I think with the intentionality and authenticity and heart behind it, I think that will attract the right kind of people, people that are interested in slow fashion and sustainability." McGregor said.
McGregor said growing up on a farm means sustainability has always been on her mind. She tries to figure out how to repurpose clothing to give it a second life.
"I think there's more solutions out there than what we realize. And I've seen other artists repurposing clothing in this way as well. Like people are doing it all across the United States, and why not support a local small business rather than buy that $2 shirt off of Temu?" McGregor said.
Fast fashion encourages a high volume of clothing, fast and cheap. McGregor argues a $2 t-shirt cannot ethically exist.
"There are no machines that are only making apparel," she said. "All apparel is made by people."
"So, somebody somewhere is not getting paid, you know, what they're worth for making that shirt or making those clothes or making that jean jacket," McGregor said.
Ethics is also on the mind of Sara Baldwin, owner of Lux & Ivy in Indianapolis. Baldwin has been in the vintage scene for 20 years and founded Dream House, a collective of three vintage brands. For Baldwin, sustainability is more than just selling zero-waste clothing.
"So, if we are creating clothing in factories where people are not treated well, then you're wearing something that someone else had to suffer to make. And I think that most people, once they make those connections, don't want that. But the thing that I truly believe about sustainable fashion is that we really need to use what already exists. And the reality is that vintage clothing is inherently cool and also it is typically well made in ways that we don't often see now," Baldwin said.
Baldwin also pointed out that buying sustainably helps the local economy.
"So like buying from Jess from Reclaim and Rethread, it's like she uses fabrics that are already in existence. She uses almost exclusively upcycled materials, and if you buy something from her she's being paid fairly because she's setting her own prices. And you're stimulating the local economy because she's in our community. It's just a win, win, win, win all the way around."
Baldwin said she feels validated by the growing popularity in vintage clothing.
"But also it makes me excited because I'm like, yes, we all want this and maybe we can make a difference," she said. "You know, maybe people will stop buying garbage that was cheaply made."
Contact Reporter Daniel Huber at dhuber@wfyi.org
