Tejer Esperanza: Jeans turned into decoration items
Under the concept of upcycling or super recycling and with the clear objective of reducing textile pollution and contributing to those who need it; Fundación Banco de ropa, Fundación Paternitas and TW eco-market converted 10,000 jeans into cushions and are now entering a second stage by creating other decoration products that will be sold in a well-known retail store.
At least 39,000 tons of clothing a year are transferred from the port of Iquique to informal dumps in the Atacama Desert. Textile waste that at the time functioned as garments for sale in the US or Europe, but -as they are not sold- they are transferred to Chile. In this context, the Weaving Hope project - a circular collaboration between the Clothes Bank Foundation, the Paternitas Foundation, TW eco-market and a well-known retail store - was born from a problem: a donation of 10,000 jeans with small flaws, that is, garments that they could not be sold or used.
How to contribute to the environment and not continue to be spectators of environmental decline?, was what the aforementioned organizations asked themselves. According to María Ignacia Moreno, General Manager of Fundación Banco de Ropa, they looked for the best option to create a virtuous circle where it would not only contribute to climate change, but also to those who need it most. On her side, Pía Aspillaga- co-founder of Tw eco-market- comments that the decision to make a decoration product was “to distance ourselves from fashion. We felt that converting them into another press was going to be more of the same, somewhat forced. We decided to create decoration products because they last longer, that is, the period of use and the replacement of a cushion or a basket is much slower compared to the season that clothes can last”.
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This is how it began, different volunteers undid the jeans, turned them into balls and, ultimately, the Paternitas Foundation weavers gave life to cushions under the concept of embracing, containing, leaning on. Women in need of work, some with criminal records in search of a new future, other housewives who, at the same time, will start their own business. “Our weavers are resilient women, on the one hand, with a criminal record who are looking for a job opportunity and to re-enter our society and, on the other, women affected by the pandemic, who were left without work and who see the possibility in this project. to be able to undertake”, says Carolina Sánchez, in charge of the Paternitas Foundation project.
Second stage
For the next few months, organizations envision making basketry items by reusing clothing donated by retail that, when unstitched, will become a new product. Then, they will be sold in the same store. The Ministry of the Environment also joins the project, which, with its sponsorship, intends to collaborate in a fairer and more sustainable society. “Weaving Hope”, in addition to obtaining “new products” from other “old ones”, is a project that contributes in different areas: work, entrepreneurship, prevention, inclusion, reintegration.