Leather Goods

            We sit and ponder about what ideas we could come up with in the apparel industry to make our environment more sustainable. We think about t-shirts, jeans, cotton, polyester, and dye, to name a few, and how they affect our environment and have unsustainable characteristics but what many people do not think about is belts. This week I have come up with an idea for a small-scale concept that recycles old leather belts.

            In Chapter 5 of Sustainability, recycled materials and inorganic fabrics are popular because they can be made into fashion fabrics and interior textiles. My idea is to create a place where people recycle their old leather belts to be made into interior décor. Once recycled, the leather belts can be recreated to make rugs, chairs, tables, baskets, art, and accessories for the home. This idea will be unique because the locals that donated/recycle the belts and can come back and buy the décor that their belt(s) were used in or custom design an interior product they want made out of their own belts.

            One strategy by Janine Benyus that influenced my idea was “Optimize Rather Than Maximize.” Instead of people throwing away their unwanted, worn, and torn leather belts and causing waste, they can recycle their belts to a local store who will reuse the belts to make new interior goods out of the old ones. Many people believe that once something is old it needs to be thrown away and can not be used for anything else. I think having a store like this will hopefully motivate more people to recycle their belts because these raw materials can be made into something new and kept out of landfills. Also, instead of going out to buy the newest products for their house, they can have a unique and personalized interior product made from their own goods.

            Benyus’s principle “Shop Locally,” sticks out the most in this concept. She states that they are encouraging shoppers to shop and buy locally to sustain local economies. Shopping locally in small towns has significantly decreased because people do not want the same apparel or interior products as someone else. To prevent that, they travel to other cities to buy their products or online shop. With my idea, I want to create one-of-a-kind products that people will want to purchase because no one else will have the same one. In Chapter 6, Local and Light, tells us that local products are rare and are getting rarer. I want to create something that is rare. Recycling leather belts to be recreated into interior goods is pretty rare and therefore this rare idea will hopefully attract locals and enhance more local shopping and local, sustainable ideas.