The Circular Textile Project
Through the Circular Textile Project, gather + make is reducing textile waste by turning reclaimed textiles into sustainable fabric for modern makers. Our circular textiles are carefully selected, high quality, locally-sourced fabrics that have been curated specifically for sewists and makers to use in their creative practice.
Beautiful and useful fabric that would have become textile waste is instead rescued and turned into a source of sustainable fabric for eco-conscious sewists.
Textiles make up one of the fastest-growing waste streams on the planet. By diverting textiles from waste, we are helping to build the circular economy and reduce the amount of new textiles produced globally and consumed locally in our community.
Where do we source our textiles? Our textiles are sourced from secondhand markets, retail and manufacturing deadstock (excess or industry textile waste, unsaleable or returned retail merchandise), and the fabric stashes of other local sewists (if you have extra fabric to sell, get in touch and we just might buy some of it!). More info on fabric buying coming soon.
What are Circular Textiles? Circular textiles are fabrics, yarn, clothing, and other woven, knit, and stitched materials that have reached the end of their first life cycle, but - instead of being disposed of - are “circled” back into use, ready to be upcycled, reused, or refashioned into something new.
Why use circular textiles?
- Feel great about using sustainable fabric, and paying less compared to new fabric!
- You get the opportunity to snag one-of-a-kind textiles that can't be found anywhere else; it's so much more fun to sew when your fabric tells a story.
- By buying circular textiles, you are reducing the amount of new textiles that need to be manufactured - and saving the raw resources, water, energy, and greenhouse gases that it requires to bring that product from its source to you.
More about our textiles: Fabric may be prewashed (if it belonged to another sewist) or unwashed. We only accept fabric washed with unscented or low-scent detergent. All new stock fabric is left as-is. We list all measurements, as well as equivalents in standard fabric quantities where possible (e.g., 3 m of 54" wide fabric). We have really high standards, and make every effort to source textiles without any major flaws, that we ourselves would sew with. But sometimes really great fabric has a few issues (don't we all?) - that doesn't mean it's unusable. In this case, we do our best to identify and fully disclose all flaws. That said, all circular fabrics are sold as-is; we hope you'll embrace any imperfections as part of the magic of sustainable sewing.
Project supporters: The Circular Textile Project has been recognized as an innovative solution for tackling the problem of textile waste, and is proud to be supported by Harvest Impact and Circular Opportunities Innovation Launchpad (COIL), which helps social enterprises create, test and scale circular economy solutions in the food and environment sectors.
Harvest Impact by 10C Shared Space builds upon a social finance journey, with a vision of locally supported projects creating a more resilient and sustainable community. With funding support from the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, they work in partnership with Our Food Future and the Circular Opportunity Innovation Launchpad (COIL).