Wednesday, January 11, 2017

The Renewal Workshop Seeks To Cut Waste In Clothing Manufacturing

A new, Oregon startup, The Renewal Workshop, is hoping its efforts can cut waste in the clothing manufacturing process, through a new three way collaboration with Oregon BEST and the Oregon Manufacturers Extension Partnership (OMEP). According to the three, The Renewal Workshop recently set up a new, 7,500 sq. ft lean manufacturing facility in the Columbia Gorge, to help transform damaged or defective clothing into resellable items. The three said the collaboration will help keep clothes with such issues as broken zippers or snaps, blown out seams, or missing buttons from heading to landfills--an issue which ends up as a part of 14 million tons of apparel that American throw out annualy, or nearly 80 pounds per year. The Renewal Workshop, based in Cascade Locks, says it is now planning to grow to 25 employees in the next two years, from nine employees now; the company is backed by $1M in funding and crowdfunding.