Back in November, we reported that Iris Alonzo, former senior creative director for American Apparel; and Carolina Crespo, another American Apparel veteran, were starting their own endeavor, dubbed Everybody. Now, they’re debuting the fruits of their labor, including the Trash Tee.
OK, so it doesn’t sound like the most marketable or appealing product, but “a rose by any other name” and all that stuff. The name also makes sense: It’s made from 100 percent recycled cotton.
Alonzo told Refinery29 that Everybody works with a cotton yarn factory to collect waste fibers.
“They produce 500,000 pounds of waste a week at just one of their plants in the South,” Alonzo said. “To put that into context, one T-shirt is about a half pound of cotton. We take the dust bunny bales, clean them and send what’s left through the yarn-making process again. We then have cones of yarn made completely from waste. Those cones get freighted to L.A., where we work with a knitter to make our jersey. Then we cut, sew and dye each garment in various small, ethical factories in South L.A.”
Like American Apparel in the past (and now American Apparel’s plan under Gildan Activewear), Everybody plans to sell its products to the wholesale market.
“We want artists, musicians, nonprofits and other brands to use our Trash Tees to make and sell their own eco-ethical merch,” Alonzo said. “We’ve done a lot of work to set up our printing, dyeing, embroidering, tie-dye supply chain and are excited to offer that to others that want to make stuff.”
For promotional products distributors, this is big news. Here is another eco-conscious company creating products in the U.S. with fashionable design and comfort in mind. For as big as American Apparel was, this could be huge.
