Sewstainability: Craft Of Upcycling Gives New Purpose To Old Material

What happens to discarded clothing? Hopefully, it's donated, but what happens to the articles that don't find a second life off a donation rack? The simple answer: many clothes end up in our landfills, polluting our oceans with harmful dyes, or, if all else fails, literal tons of clothing go to the incinerator, which, of course, leads to a greater carbon output and threatens the environment even further.

Regardless of how the material gets to where it eventually lies, the garment industry is under extreme scrutiny for its environmental impact–whether that's from its massive output now rebranded as "ultra-fast" fashion or the toxic chemicals, it takes to produce some inks and patterns. The price of fashion is more than what's listed on the tag. In fact, fashion accounts for 8-10% of global carbon emissions and nearly 20% of wastewater. While these are scary statistics, there's a company on a mission to correct what's already out there. Outerknown, a sustainably-focused clothing brand that prioritizes circularity based out of California, is on a mission to find other makers and doers passionate about sustainability. In a series of small-town connections that only real Vermonters can understand and a lifelong devotion to upcycling and handcrafting, Project Vermont was born.

What Is Project Vermont, And How Did It Start?

In classic Vermont style, Project Vermont started very humbly at Lise-Anne Cooledge's kitchen table, where she would sew away when her kids went to sleep or were at school. It was there she would take discarded clothing and breathe new life into it. What began as a creative exercise in turning discarded items/clothing into functional products led to something much more intentional and certainly less wasteful. Lise-Anne gathered ill-fitting clothing and/or any other miscellaneous materials she would need to create her sewing projects at Goodwill. She began assembling bags with discarded belt buckles and old denim; finding sweaters with holes that would later become her infamous sweater mittens; scrapping old material from other projects to build dog beds or blankets, and so much more. But, it wasn't until she was connected with Outerknown in early 2021 that she was able to upscale from her kitchen table.  

Outerknown, like much of the internet at the time, saw Bernie Sanders wearing his mittens at the 2021 inauguration. These mittens were crafted on a pattern that Lise-Anne and her former sewing partner, Jen Ellis, created. After watching how these simple sweater mittens encapsulated the internet, Outerknown decided that the people behind these mittens needed a bigger platform to create on. While this is quite the origin story, Lise-Anne doesn't attribute it to how she started, "I've done a lifelong of handcrafting/upcycling, trying to repurpose and happen to make the mittens. I think Bernie was the spark that led to the connection," she explains to us inside Outerknown's Project Vermont location in St. Albans. Lise-Anne checked her email to find thousands of messages from people all over, and somehow through a series of synergetic connections, Outerknown's CEO, Mark Walker, and Lise-Anne were connected by a neighbor of hers who does business with them.

After six months and many conversations between Outerknown and Lise-Anne and her husband, Scott, they realized just how aligned they were. By 2030 Outerknown has outlined strategies to become fully circular, and with the help of Lise-Anne's intentional sewing and sourcing of materials, they knew they could get there together. It was more than mittens between these two seemingly different parties; Lise-Anne says, "I think it's about Outerknown's ability to be open to something like this and our ability to think that we could have commonality with a sustainable clothing brand and do something together that could be really productive." It was bigger than both Outerknown and what would later become Project Vermont, really. It was a matter of better business and, ultimately, a better world. They found that they spoke a lot of the same language, and the commonalities amongst each other were so strong that Outerknown took a chance on a small-town Vermont handcrafter.

Through The Ages

Sometimes, a well-built machine isn't one right off the shelf, and that's definitely the case with the Singer 301 sewing machines. The Singer 301s were built in the 1950s, and while they're 50+ years old, they will certainly outlive any modern-day machine. These small but mighty collectibles "were designed for the user that's not gonna be able to run out to the store and get parts or call someone to repair it," Scott explains as he opens the Singer 301 that Lise-Anne calls "Frankenstein" for its mismatched, recycled parts. These Singer sewing machines were designed prior to obsolescence and provided a wonderful base to working off of and repair as necessary.

The inside of the machine has a few metal gears. All it takes to clean is a little dusting, and as long as you're lubricating with oil as you go, it's an easy task. There's something about a simple design; while it may not be the fastest or the most powerful sewing machine, it's designed for durability and long life that any of the modern plastic sewing machines could hardly compete with. When machines and materials are designed to last longer, manufacturing processes can begin to change in a way that doesn't require businesses to produce as much. And, in doing so, it allows for better quality products to come to market.

The Singer 301 sewing machines are a wonderful reminder that we don't always need to buy brand new to accomplish the task at hand, and that's the same with the materials that Project Vermont sources.

Sourcing materials is the start of any project for Lise-Anne. Many of the articles that she sources come straight from the community, working with local churches and other donation outlets in the area, while other materials come from Outerknown's discard pile, damaged but still usable stack, or end of bolt (last remaining fabrics on a bolt or roll) fabric, which is where the collaboration between Outerknown and Project Vermont really begins to take shape. If there is a damaged piece of material from Outerknown's collection, Lise-Anne and her crew work to visibly mend the material if it is not overly damaged. Basic embroidery stitches are used to create an eye-catching pattern/line of thread where the damage once was. Visible mending showcases the love and care that goes into each unique piece. And using Outerknown's end-of-bolt fabric for other projects keeps waste low when Project Vermont can upcycle it into something new.

While sourcing material can be a creative process combining both locally sourced materials Lise-Anne collects with Outerknowns scraps, she is always brainstorming new ways to obtain and places that have bulk materials for them to use. One of the biggest roadblocks that Lise-Anne and her crew run into is changing the path of recycled clothing and gaining access to larger quantities of these discarded materials. If it comes down to it, Outerknown can tap into their network and source material for them, which has been a great help in not only creating new garments that others will love but also achieving Outerknown's circularity and sustainability goals. For example, when Lise-Anne first began crafting her bags made from discarded denim pants, she would use old belts for the handles, but as she and Outerknown began collaborating, they wanted the straps on the bags to be more uniform, so Outerknown sourced military webbing from a factory that had excess. Using the power of a larger, more established brand like Outerknown to help a smaller subset like Project Vermont is how we can begin to tackle huge problems like the climate crisis.