There has always been one thing that really bothers me about the fashion industry - the waste. Starting with sampling, we make patterns, cut that pattern in muslin, sew it together, make adjustments, make a new pattern and sew it into a sample. Of all of that, only the final pattern and sample are not going to get thrown out. Move onto production - when pieces are cut out they are put on a marker. A marker is each pattern piece of each size spread out across the fabric to utilize as much fabric as possible. But there is still always waste, and always leftover fabric. Much of this goes into the trash. Next is shipping out production - pieces are tagged, wrapped in tissue, and poly-bags to be as protected as possible while they travel to shops. The shops then unpack each item, throwing out the poly bags and the tissue paper.
There is a green movement in fashion, trying to cut waste, but no matter what, it will always be a waste-heavy industry. To minimize my own waste as a designer, I've begun taking scraps and turning them into wearable pieces instead of letting it go to the trash. I plan to expand this effort, but for now, I'm making jewelry out of leather scraps that are too small to use for anything else. Adding a little bit of whimsy to my designs, customers can now buy hand cut leather skull and unicorn earrings - this is only the beginning. While I continue on with Linden, there will be many limited or one of a kind hand made items that I will use predominantly leftovers to produce.
