As beautiful as our printed textiles are after they merrily roll off of the printing press, they require a little finishing before they are ready to go. The finishing process along with other sewing projects (like appliquéd flags) generates scrap material which then piles up in our production area. Common Thread Cooperative who shares space in our building already takes a part of the stash, but we always have plenty more. Lately, we’ve been donating extra scraps to the Banner Bags program which puts them to good use.

Banner Bags is a program that educates high school students on environmental friendliness by repurposing old street banners and other donated scrap materials into bags in their sewing classes.

Since 2008, their actions have saved 1,100+ pounds of nylon from landfills, prevented 27,000 pounds of CO2 emissions and conserved enough electricity to power an average Vancouver home for 40 months. You can read more about their program at http://www.bannerbags.com

Brenda and Rebecca will be attending the Beyond the Bag Eco-Fashion Showcase in March to see what all our recycled scraps have become. Here’s a sneak peek that their project manager Lauren sent us ahead of time.

If you are interested in supporting Banner Bags, contact Lauren Watkins at bannerbags@sifesimonfraser.com.