Rummaging trash from NY's clothes manufacturers

What I learned and how I scored over $1k in free clothes and fabric

In case you were wondering, this is what I've been up to

I am writing this article on a plane, during one of the worst flights I have ever been on. I am very much an aisle seat picker, however, the fact that all of the passengers in window seats nearby chose to close the shades from the moment they sat down made me terribly regret choosing the freedom to roam around instead of controlling the windows. Still, my misery was nothing in comparison to all I learned and earned $$$ on this trip.

I was in New York City for a few days and I finally got a chance to visit Fabscrap, a nonprofit dedicated to eliminating textile waste: the material that is discarded throughout the production process of clothes. The fact that fabrics are made out of so many different materials, and the majority are at least some part plastic, makes them an environmental hazard to landfills. There were no textile-specific collection services that would intercept the damage until Fabscrap was created. Their pickup service recovers any fabric that did not make it into a final product from manufacturers around NY and Philadelphia and a team of volunteers (like me) sorts the materials to make sure they will be properly recycled or made available for reuse. 

I was open to getting my hands dirty, sorting through different scraps of fabric, separating recycling materials and looking forward to a glimpse of what city recycling facilities do with the trash from my home. I have always worked desk jobs and I romanticize manual labor, working with hands, on your feet - what I realize makes no sense, but I am opening my heart here. A part of me needs to see immediate results directly connected to my specific contribution, so I thought this work would be very rewarding. As compensation, each volunteer can take home 5 lbs, approximately 2.3 kg, of material, a detail I ignored until I realized what would be unearthed from these black garbage bags. Pardon the cliché, one man’s trash may be the other (wo)man’s gold. 

Brooklyn Army Terminal

Shocking for me, the outskirts of Manhattan, and even a few spots in the city, are a prominent hub of clothes manufacturing, proudly keeping American Made alive. Fabscrap is based out of Brooklyn Army Terminal (BAT), a place that served as the largest military supply base in the US through WWII and that now houses hundreds of these manufacturers and also shipping facilities. Noteworthy, here is where Elvis Presley was deployed to Germany in 1958, a fact that I have to share after Austin Butler ripped my heart open last year. 

Once inside, I got assigned a black trash bag and a table circled with labeled hampers. The mission was simple: forensically separate the materials in the bag in the respective categories and weigh each bag for tracking purposes. 

Clockwise: Reuse, Trash, Spandex, Denim, 100% Polyester, Cotton, Shred, Paper.

Fabrics are extremely hard to recycle due to their blended nature, so at Fabscrap, only denim (with up to 10% spandex) makes it full circle, back into new pairs of jeans, and that’s why it has its own hamper. 

On the other hand, Spandex, the bouncy stretch with vertical and horizontal elasticity, melts during the shredding process, making it the hardest material to be transformed into something else, limiting its circularity. Fabscrap, however, is working hard to give Spandex more options - such as using it to fill in punching bags and other gym gear. 

All other small fabric scraps are downcycled, the name given to the process of transforming a material into another that is lower in the value chain. Cotton, polyester, and mixed fabrics without spandex head straight to the shredder and become this gray fluff called shoddy. It’s then used as insulation for homes and as mattress stuffing.

A pile of shoddy, and Ralph Lauren cashmere scraps I took home from another volunteer’s batch, heartbroken to imagine them becoming shoddy. Exciting DIY projects coming soon!

Interestingly enough, little scraps of trash are a far cry from what I found inside the black garbage bags I rummaged through. Most of my findings were different garment iterations, that could skip shredding completely and find refuge in reuse.

 My first discovery was the mutilated items, victims of inconceivable clothes abuse. Factories normally have samples of each garment in production to serve as an example to be copied and referred to or even, a prototype when deciding if a model should be pursued or not. These items, however, are not part of the traditional production line, so are just thrown out after they fulfill their use. The funny thing is, before throwing them out, items are mutilated to make sure they won’t be resold. Fabscrap has so many volunteers in the fashion industry, they save these pieces and lovingly rename them: mendable items. I wish I had held on to this nude tank top and even wore it with the circle, so perfectly cut out, enough to look intentional.

Examples of mutilated items

Samples can also carry markings that are considered graffiti guidelines for the production process, waning out potential resellers and sparing them from mutilation. Or even, maybe this garment was a rough prototype that was quickly declined or that didn’t need finishing for its next iteration to be started. I find that going through industrial waste is not unlike the forensic analysis of fugitives’ trash. One little piece of evidence, inconspicuous, gets me thinking of a variety of different scenarios. Fabscrap saves all of these items and sells them for $5/lb, which is literally nothing.

Sample black leather and Sherpa jacket with silver Sharpie markers that got thrown out. I got it in exchange for volunteering and was so excited I wore it out on the same day.

 Somewhere in-between these two, are the items that just did not get finished. And this was my jackpot: A theory velvet blazer that is missing a lining, but otherwise perfect. Not perfect enough for resale. I never got so many compliments. 

THANK YOU, missing lining. You won't be missed.

And last but not least, I unearthed an entire container of colorful and metallic lamb leather hides. So beautiful, so soft, it’s indescribable. Companies probably found little folds, and imperfections and decided that they were no good. It all went to the reuse basket, to be sold at Fabscrap’s store at thrift prices. 

Each hide is worth around $50 USD (based on my quick internet search), much less than I expected knowing the price real leather products go for. What should I make with the 10 samples that I took home?

Almost landing, I got used to the sealed oval windows, but I still can’t believe how many incredible products and fabrics are thrown out every day as just part of how clothes are made. If you are in New York or Philadelphia, take thrifting to a whole other level at Fabscrap.

There are plenty of hidden treasures waiting for you to (sort and) claim.