Sew Cool: Project Repat
When it comes to ultra-hip clothing, Project Repat just might have the coolest duds ever.
In the past few years, the Project Repat team have made a name for themselves recovering some of the thousands of t-shirts and hoodies that get offloaded into the developing world, where they flood the market with little-wanted second-hand clothes, a large portion of which end up languishing in landfills. Project Repat visited countries like Kenya and Tanzania to scour the market for lost treasures, bring them back to the U.S. and get them back to you.
But after rescuing t-shirt after t-shirt, the company has recently decided to branch out a bit, and focus on their new custom orders program. If you're anything like us, you probably have boxes of old clothes piled in your basement (or quietly taking up space at the bottom of your closet). Project Repat wants to take these dingy, old, but often sentimental threads and turn them into something new. Something cool.
Here's how it works: Project Repat sends you a self-addressed, stamped package, which you fill with your own clothes. You mail it back to Project Repat, and they turn it into a brand new scarf, quilt, or tie. Every order is one-of-a-kind and totally reflects your style. After all, it's handmade from your own lived-in and loved clothes!
As you might have guessed, this is a very Eco-friendly way of updating your wardrobe. Most t-shirts sold in the US have already traveled 10,000 miles and it takes more than 700 gallons of water to make a new t-shirt. Since they're not making it from scratch, the environmental impact is seriously lessened.
And finally, to sweeten the deal, Project Repat is offering Milkshake readers $5 off on custom orders when you enter the code "getmilkshake" at checkout. Share the love and tell a friend!
Every custom order from Repat creates at least one hour of a fair and living wage for someone at Opportunity Threads, a worker-owned cut and sew company in Morganton, North Carolina. Opportunity Threads prevents unwanted American t-shirts from ending up in landfills or dumped on lower income countries. Employees of Opportunity Threads own part of the company and earn a fair, living wage.