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FABSCRAP
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There’s a way to be sustainable while working with most textiles thanks to New York-based recycling service FABSCRAP, where Arizona State University alumna and community coordinator Dhamar Romo Chavez shares tips to fashion students about how to avoid consumer waste.
Chavez described how clothing and textiles that are thrown away daily are one of the contributors that “make the fashion industry be one of the most wasteful industries globally.”
Over Zoom on Sept. 3, Chavez talked to fashion professor Irina Tevzadze and the ASU fashion program about how much waste is produced in the fashion industry, the work FABSCRAP does to prevent it and how to be more sustainable while working with textiles.
Tevzadze told Chavez that the ASU fashion program is “all about sustainability and we as a faculty encourage students to be even more serious about this huge problem.”
Chavez opened with a study done by the New York Department of Sanitation that estimated New York City residents throw out 200,000 tons of clothing and textiles every year, which makes up 6% of the waste stream. To get a better picture, Chavez compared the weight to the Brooklyn Bridge.
“200,000 tons is 14 times the weight of the Brooklyn Bridge. So another way to think about this is we would need about two Brooklyn Bridges to hold the weight of how much New York City is producing in textile weights per year,” Chavez said.
Businesses also create a lot of waste, not just consumers. Chavez said that each pound that’s created from consumers results in 40 pounds of commercial waste, according to Annie Leonard’s “Story of Stuff.”
Tevzadze added how the fashion industry didn’t pay much attention to the amount of waste that companies were creating.
“I still remember the glamorous time that we were a part of the industry where we can afford to buy new things and not really be cautious and really sensitive about [sustainability]. We didn’t take that too seriously,” Tevzadze said.
This is where FABSCRAP steps in. According to its website, the company is a nonprofit model that has been operating for five years and is based in Brooklyn, New York. It works with fashion brands like Marc Jacobs, Macy’s and Express and helps them become more sustainable.
FABSCRAP has three different steps that go over the process of utilizing textiles and making them reusable, according to its website.
The first step is to recycle. The company provides clients with laundry bags and a pickup service that takes the bags to FABSCRAP’s warehouse in the Brooklyn Army Terminal, according to Chavez.
“We can sometimes get 40 to 50 bags per day and we receive about 8,000 pounds of fabric waste every week on
that each pound that’s created from consumers results in 40 pounds of commercial waste, according to Annie
Tevzadze added how the fashion industry didn’t pay much attention to the amount of waste that companies
“I still remember the glamorous time that we were a part of the industry where we can afford to buy new things and not really be cautious and really sensitive about [sustainability]. We
in Brooklyn, New York. It works with fashion brands like Marc Jacobs, Macy’s and Express and helps them
FABSCRAP has three different steps that go over the process of utilizing textiles and making them reusable,
The first step is to recycle. The company provides clients with laundry bags and a pickup service that takes the bags to FABSCRAP’s warehouse in the Brooklyn Army Terminal, according
“We can sometimes get 40 to 50 bags per day and we receive about 8,000 pounds of fabric waste every week on Then the fabric is consolidated and put into trash bags that are sent out to volunteer stations, which leads to the next step.
One person is stationed at a table and sorts the given bag of excess materials by different kinds of fabric like spandex, wool and cotton. According to Chavez, there’s a bin for spandex because it’s not recyclable and can heat up and ruin the machinery.
The material that can be reused will be sent to FABSCRAP’s shop and to its online store, which leads to the third and final step: shop.
The shop is at FABSCRAP’s warehouse and is “a little bit more of a thrift store experience,” Chavez said.
Each item is sold by pound or by yard. They also have a mendable section where designers can use the fabrics provided to mend and make them wearable again.
FABSCRAP’s online website launched in 2018 and includes anything from scrap packs to yard packs. Chavez encourages creators to look through their website for potential use.
“There’s lots of creative ways to make requests through the online store and we are eager to help in whatever way we can with the materials available to us,” Chavez said. FABSCRAP has pop-up shops in places like Philadelphia and Chicago to reach and impact other communities that are outside New York, Chavez said.
FABSCRAP also gives its clients reports that contain statistics including the total number of waste collected, tons of carbon saved and the percentage of how many textiles are diverted from landfill.
“We’re making these data points really remarkable and tweetable for [companies] so it generates excitement over how to recycle and also allows them to share our service to others,” Chavez said.
Tevzadze shared how the ASU fashion program also spoke with the assistant product developer of the intimate company Wacoal America, Sonja Tabb, who also worked with FABSCRAP.
“They really encouraged us and the future generation I would say to have a closer relationship with [FABSCRAP],” Tevzadze said.
Chavez encourages all brands and designers to reach out and work with FABSCRAP.
“As far as the communities we interact with, it’s one of the things I find the most extraordinary for FABSCRAP,” Chavez said. “There is no one too small or too big for FABSCRAP to interact with and that is really admirable to me.”
For more information, visit FABSCRAP’s website at www.fabscrap.com or contact education@fabscrap.org.
By: Alexis Huerter
