RE-DESIGN

Sarah DehlingerMinneapolis College of Art & Design

Intro to Sustainable DesignFall 2012

project

The path to sustainability is full of important questions...

How do we reduce our energy use and dependence on fossil fuels?

How can we recycle and reuse what we already have?

And what kind of changes can we make in our lives and in our own home?

But today, I'm just asking you to think about where you shop...

?

Maybe somewhere like this?

or this?

or here?

If you shop at Goodwill, it probably looks something like this...

which might make you not want to come back when you can't find what you want, in the size you want, that still looks like it's from the current decade.

But what if you could combine designer styles with second hand, donated clothes?

+

with a little and

This is the concept of

RE-DESIGNproject

But why bother?

● Americans throw away more than 68 lbs of clothing and textiles per person per year

● Clothing and other textiles represent about 4% of the municipal solid waste stream

(incase that's not bad enough...)

● The textile industry is the #1 industrial polluter of fresh water on the planet

● Up to 2000 chemicals are used during textile processing.

And what happens to the clothes that get donated, but can't be resold?

We ship them by the ton to poorer countries which can stunt the growth of their own textile industry

So what's different about project RE-

DESIGN?

This concept means taking used clothes and cutting, sewing, and re-designing them for a fashion forward customer.

This isn't the same as shopping vintage or other stores that buy gently used name-brand clothes to resell them, it's making an entirely new design, with used textiles purchased from stores like Goodwill and the Salvation Army.

It's not this

Or this

Or this

Then what's so great about it anyway?

● Made in the US

● Helps create local jobs for skilled labor

● Less importing textiles and exporting waste

Which means more of all our finite resources for future generations

And less of the bad stuff

One company, Worn Again, in the UK is already doing it and seeing huge rewards

How do we get there?

Design fashion forward, high quality clothes in a boutique environment

Make stores and online shopping organized so shoppers can easily find the

styles and sizes they want

Consistent sizing to make the shopping experience easier

Build relationships with other companies to recycle their used textiles

Build a sustainable organization that leads by example with energy efficient lighting,

pay fair wages, and incorporates other used items in the store such as furniture

and fixtures

Educate others how to re-design their own clothes through classes at the store

What's the result?

Happy people,

happy planet

and happy businesses with $ in their pocket!

Thank You!

Sarah Dehlinger

what will we re-design next?