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FABSCRAP Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - And Re-think by GENO THACKARA images courtesy of FABSCRAP
G R E E N S PAC E
If clothes are your hobby, fashion is your job, or you’re just into sewing or quilting for fun, pay attention to the name FABSCRAP. The small nonprofit has become a hidden but very effective craftsperson’s resource through the New York City area since 2016, collecting and recycling tons (literally tons) of clothing-industry materials discarded by manufacturers before the final product makes it onto the rack. “I was working at New York City’s department of sanitation and overseeing the city’s clothing-recycling program,” founder Jessica Schreiber explains about the company’s small-scale start. “I started hearing from some fashion companies who were wondering what 86
they could do with their textile waste that wasn’t clothing yet - extra fabric and leather, buttons, zippers, yarns. There really wasn’t a great place to send them. You don’t go to Goodwill because you’re looking for three yards of silk, for example. I realized that we needed a thrift infrastructure for the raw materials, the same way we have a thrift infrastructure for used goods.” Since then, FABSCRAP - a small staff of a dozen joined by a large army of volunteers - has kept more than 891,000 pounds of waste from going to landfills, simply by connecting mountains of discarded material with people who can use it. Fresh off celebrating its five-year anniversary, the outfit’s next step will be a retail store and warehouse due to open
| ROWHOME MAGAZINE | October / November / December 2021
in South Philadelphia this November. While expanding into Los Angeles (the nation’s other biggest fashion hub) seemed like a logical plan until early 2020, the Covid crisis left Schreiber and crew looking a little closer to home. She explains, “Philadelphia is a great next step for us. We can drive there in a day and back. It also extends our service capacity all the way to DC and Baltimore, so we can cover a lot more of the [clothing] brands on the east coast. “We’ve done quite a few pop-up sales in Philadelphia, already. We’re really excited to have a permanent location there, where students and local artists can volunteer or come and shop. I didn’t even realize how many fashion companies were headquartered there, but gohomephilly.com
