In the textile printing sector, waste is a constant challenge. Whether it's wrong sizes, badly positioned logos, or proofs validated a little too quickly, we've all seen these quality but unusable textiles pile up.
When I joined the Inkoo team, I realised that some of these textiles simply ended up gather dust. But I quickly asked myself: what if we gave them a new life?
key takeways
Waste: how is it reflected in the textile printing sector?
Recycling: how can these goods be reused?
The results: what has this experience brought us?
Prospects: how will we do things in the future?
The challenge of surplus 🏆
When we talk about textile printing, we often talk about personalisation. We create unique garments for customers who want a specific logo, colour or size.
But even with optimised processes, some mistakes are inevitable. A logo that's a little too big? A jumper printed on the wrong size?
These details can sometimes turn an entire batch into a surplus, because customers can legitimately refuse a product that doesn't meet their expectations.
This leaves us with a stock of brand new textiles, often of superior quality, but unusable for their original purpose.
Our solution 💡
Rather than throwing these textiles away, or storing them endlessly, we decided to turn to upcycling.
So I started contacting local designers in Belgium and the north of France to offer them a partnership. The idea was simple: we'd supply them with the textiles, and in exchange they'd give us a bit of exposure on their social networks.
It was a win-win situation: the designers would freely receive quality materials, and we would promote an ethical approach that would benefit the environment and the image of our company.
Feedback ↩️
The feedback has been enthusiastic on the whole. Many local designers responded with a resounding yes! They saw this textile surplus as an opportunity to try out new designs or add limited collections to their range.
Jumpers, t-shirts, sometimes with a logo that would disappear under creative embroidery or an original patch - anything was possible! Our collaboration saved hundreds of textiles that would otherwise have gone unused, and gave visibility to craftspeople who share our love of design.
But not everything was perfect. Some designers took the textiles... and stopped responding. Some stocks seemed to have vanished into thin air just because I trusted human beings.
That's when we learned an important lesson: formalise these exchanges.
From now on, each collaboration is governed by a simple agreement, which sets out the commitments of each party, including a clause on mutual visibility. This enables us to ensure a balanced partnership, where everyone respects the agreed terms.
Future projects 🌱
This initiative has also been a great lesson in the importance of communication and transparency in our collaborations. By explaining to designers the ecological issues behind our initiative, we have found a resonance that has transformed ‘failed’ textiles into symbols of a circular economy.
For the future, we're even planning to extend these partnerships to create exclusive upcycled collections, organizing some workshops with Inkoo's textile for the benefit of our local partners.
Ultimately, this upcycling adventure has not only allowed us to reduce our ecological footprint, but it has also strengthened our ties with our community of designers. At Inkoo, we now see every textile surplus not as a failure, but as a new opportunity.
If you are a designer interested in this kind of partnership, or a company looking for solutions to limit your textile surplus, don't hesitate to contact us.