Musings: Recycled Sweater Supplier

If you haven’t gathered by now, my products are all made of sweaters. I design products made out of recycled materials and me and my seamstresses turn old sweaters into pillows, scarves, bags, hair flowers, and whatever I can dream up. When I first started using old sweaters, I found them through second-hand stores but when the products started selling so quickly, shopping at thrift stores got old real fast. So my husband found a supplier and now we have them delivered. The cost is higher but it is WAY worth it to me not to have to shop for them. And once adding in gas the cost probably equals out. I could never find the amount needed at thrift stores anymore. We recently ordered a new round of sweaters and I thought you might like to see a little behind the scenes. It’s a bit crazy here when new materials arrive!

The sweaters come baled like this:

The bales hold hundreds of sweaters each and literally explode when cut open. I wish I could leave them baled as they take up very little space but the sweaters get so smashed that they acquire permanent wrinkles.

This order was around 500-700 pounds. The last one was a full ton to give you perspective! That’s a whole lot of sweaters (and overhead!). Once opened I sort. And sort. And sort. And sort. Some days I find this fun. And other days I dread it.

The sweaters arrive in all sorts of shapes and sizes. These photos are taken in a dark storage area so please forgive the poor quality and lighting. As you can see from that pile above, my business is not all fun and games and lovely things. But the process of making old cast-offs into new things is a bit of an obsession.

I’m sure you wonder about the styles of the sweaters themselves. Am I sitting on a gold-mine of gorgeous sweaters? Sadly, no. But all the better as I don’t feel guilty cutting into them. I purchase the top grade which means the better quality (though still meant only for recycling) but that doesn’t mean they are nice. More often than not, they are outdated, shrunken or otherwise ugly.

Ducks in bowties, anyone?