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Concerned about the waste produced by the fashion industry, one woman created an online marketplace that saves overstock fabric from the landfill.
Catherine Gaynor was trying to come up with ideas for her own business when she hit on the idea of custom-made clothes โ quality clothing that people would value and, hopefully, hold on to longer than they would with fast-fashion pieces.
She hoped to make those clothes with fabric that manufacturers were throwing away โ material otherwise known as overstock fabric. But she struggled to find a company that distributed it. So she switched gears from her custom-clothing idea and created a marketplace for the extra fabric herself.
Rather than simply buying and reselling the fabric, though, Catherine took it one step further and built Last Stitch.co, an online platform that bridges the gap between manufacturers with overstock fabric, resellers, creatives, and customers interested in upcycled fashion.ย
I read something that said that there is so much waste in the world, it would take an army to move all of the fabric. That put a light bulb over my head: I should create that army. I wanted to create a vehicle where anybody who could think of anything to do with fabric could use it and help shift the waste into a better purpose.
โ Catherine Gaynor, founder of Last Stitch.co
Unsustainable industry and cultural practices contribute significantly to the 92 million tons of textile waste produced around the world every year. โManufacturers order anywhere from 15 to 30 percent extra [fabric], then it gets tossed afterwards,โ Catherine says. โAnd now with fast fashion companies like Temu and Shein, you can buy a whole new wardrobe for $100. It makes it disposable.โ
On Last Stitch.coโs website, any individual or company can list bulk amounts of excess fabric at a discounted price as a โlast ditchโ effort before it gets thrown away. Resellers can buy the discounted fabric and sell it in smaller quantities for a profit.ย
Creatives can also use the bulk fabric, or fabric bought from resellers, for their own projects, which they can sell on the website to customers in the market for unique, hand-made clothing or accessories.
The websiteโs environmental impact tracker logs everyย unit of fabric moved through the site, so users can see up-to-date stats on exactly how many yards have been diverted from the landfill.ย
โI read something that said that there is so much waste in the world, it would take an army to move all of the fabric,โ Catherine says. โThat put a light bulb over my head: I should create that army. I wanted to create a vehicle where anybody who could think of anything to do with fabric could use it and help shift the waste into a better purpose.โ
