From Rags to Quilts
Our society is becoming very individualistic. People love personalization. There are companies out there that customize just about anything you can think of! The quality of distinctiveness is also a mentioned in the “Local and Light” reading this week. It suggests that people want products that are meaningful and diverse. In order to appeal to the nostalgic side of our culture, I am suggesting a program that lets you transform old keepsake textiles into quilts and blankets. Last week, I focused mainly on a large-scale solution, applicable to businesses of pretty much any discipline. This week, I am zoning in and suggesting a smaller-scale concept.
This system allows people to re-use their own items, such as concert t-shirts, baby clothes, or other keepsake products, and turn them into functional items for their home. Companies like “Shutterfly” allow people to upload tons of pictures and organize them into books or collages. This program would work similarly to that. People could send in a box of items to be re-used and the company would organize them into a quilt pattern and return it (in the same shipping box used to send them in) as a blanket. As mentioned in the “Sustainability” reading, our culture is seeing a revitalization of craft skills. “Pinterest” is a prime example of this! For people who are crafty themselves, the program could be available online. You could upload images of the items and it would produce a pattern for you to follow when making your quilt.
This concept incorporates “Use Waste as a Resource” by taking apparel items that might go to waste and transforming them into functional interior products for your home. It also uses the principle of “Optimize Rather than Maximize” by preventing people from buying blankets when they already have raw materials that can be turned into blankets. This allows them to make the most of resources they already have instead of using additional resources.
I like your quilt idea, but I think you should keep it at your 'local' quilting stores and provide them with business! I actually have a box full of tshirts that my mom is going to make a quilt out of, but my mother will end up throwing the scraps into the trash and with sending them to a local quilt store, they could recycle the scraps. Love the idea, just need to get the word out to use our 'waste' of shirts.
ReplyDeleteMaegen,
DeleteI love the idea of keeping business local, I was just having a difficult time thinking of a way to promote this concept in a more widespread way, so my original thought was making a national company. However, now that I think of it, maybe a national program that local stores could participate in would be a good solution. Thank you for your feedback!
Beth, this is a great idea! After my sister graduated high school she had many shirts that she had collected over her lifetime. We have a local store that creates "t-shirt quilts." She gathered all of her shirts that meant a lot to her and made them into a quilt. It is a really good memorabilia for her that she can use for the rest of her life. This is a great idea because I feel like the majority of people have a plethora of t-shirts that they either grew out of, are memories, or need to be throw away. One of Benyus strategies is use materials sparingly and I believe this concept falls under this strategy because you take a shirt that you got good use out of and turned it into a blanket, which you will use for many more years. This is a great way of turning one thing into another. Great Job!
ReplyDeleteGrace,
DeleteThanks! I know I have seen people do this before, but I didn't know there were stores that offered this service as well. After reading Meagan's comment about keeping business local, and that your sister had taken her t-shirts to a local business to have her t-shirt quilt made, I think local is definitely the way to go. It also incorporated the IE principle of keeping it local!
Beth, I love this idea! I think that these quilts are a great way to recycle materials and also to create a special keepsake. I agree with Meagen that by keeping the business local it creates jobs for more people in the community. I also think that t-shirts can be used to create pillows and pillowcases--we used to get a pillowcase before camp every summer that we could take with us and have all of our friends sign. I think that this is a great example that it is not difficult to think of new ways to recycle old materials, you just have to be creative and then take the initiative to do something about it. Well done!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Caroline, it's good to hear from you!
DeleteI like the idea you have of adding other options to the "line" of recycled t-shirt products. I'm sure there are many many ways to re-use old t-shirts and there's bound to be something for everyone. I could definitely see a decorative pillow with the main t-shirt image as an inlay in the front or something, or even the front side or entire pillow being made from the t-shirts.