Ok, that’s a SLIGHT exaggeration… but bear with me. Here’s a guilty secret:
Making clothing (or costumes) makes a lot of waste.
The world of fashion generally isn’t very green. When fabric is cut up to make a garment, a lot of little fabric scraps are left behind. Unlike food leftovers (yum!), most of those scraps are unusable. They can add up to as much as 10-20% of the starting fabric! Over time, that makes for a lot of garbage.
Every textile-based business, large or small, has to deal with that leftover fabric waste. Here at the The Rowdy Ladybug, when I make those cute towels, adorable bath mitts, and fun costumes, I build up quite a big fuzzy pile of terrycloth, fleece, and fabric scraps. Sending it to a landfill seems SO wasteful… Unlike food waste, fabric can take a LONG time to break down, and doesn’t compost well. (Sometimes archaeologists find bits of fabric when digging up ancient sites… but unlike ancient shrouds or tapestries, my scraps aren’t very exciting. I hope not to leave too many traces behind for future diggers… yikes!)
As much as 10-20% of the fabric used to make garments and textile products becomes unusable scraps (i.e. garbage).
A solution to a tricky waste problem.
So what’s a crafty business to do? Well, my helpers and I use those scraps to stuff fleece bags. We donate them to local animal shelters to use as pet beds for fostered animals. It solves my waste problem and benefits local non-profits– what a relief! (Believe me, it made me feel a LOT better.)
I hope knowing all that makes you feel just a bit more virtuous when you shop with me. 😉 Your purchase is cute… and part of it helps support cute animals until they find their fur-ever homes! If YOU have ideas for other eco-friendly uses for scraps, definitely let me know.
xoxo,
Jane
P.S. You can feel good about your purchases from The Rowdy Ladybug because our fabric scraps are recycled into pet beds for local animal shelters. CLICK HERE to browse my best-sellers (and best scrap-producers)!
