California Product Stewardship Council’s San Francisco Garment Repair Pilot: Final Report Now Available

SEATTLE (Waste Advantage): The California Product Stewardship Council (CPSC) is thrilled to release our final report on the Textile Repair Pilot in the San Francisco Bay Area, funded by San Francisco Environment Department, and in partnership with CBU Productions and Goodwill fo San Francisco Bay. The goal of the pilot was to highlight opportunities for sorting and characterizing post-consumer textile waste brought to Goodwill locations in the Bay Area, and innovative methods to divert these materials from the landfill.

REPORT SUMMARY

CalRecycle identified textiles as the fifth most common material in California’s single-family residential disposal waste stream. In 2020, CPSC worked with Goodwill funded by San Francisco Environment Department to sort and characterize post-consumer garment unsold at the retail store, finding 44 unique fiber types and 275 unique fiber blends in two days. In 2021, the same partners launched a textile repair project, also funded by San Francisco Environment Department, to pilot a repair program for damaged garments. The pilot showcased the opportunities in landfill diversion and opportunity for innovative material management by 1) Redesigning and repurposing unusable garments; 2) Sewing rips, tears, hems, and patches; and 3) Deep cleaning and textile surface repair.

To promote green businesses and local jobs, the pilot collaborated with

•          Savvy Cleaners, a locally owned, certified California Organic/Clean cleaner,
•          San Francisco State’s Apparel Design and Merchandising (ADM) program, • Designing a Difference, founded by an alumnae from the SFSU’s ADM program, for repair and redesign.

Of the total garments, 702 were sold on the Goodwill of San Francisco Bay eBay
account. The lowest priced item sold was $9.99, while the highest priced item sold was $260. In general, the repaired items sold for more than they were listed, but not all the garments sold, so the grand total of sales was less than the total spent on repairs.

Engaging with the Community: To showcase the redesigned garments from the students in the ADM program, an exhibition was hosted on San Francisco State University campus on September 27th, 2022. Designs were also displayed at the Bridging of the Bay Merger Celebration on Treasure Island during the Week of Goodwill.

Clothing repair workshops were hosted at Goodwill in collaboration with CBU Productions and Everlane. The project also hosted a “$20 off any repair service for San Francisco residents” event in December 2023 in collaboration with Savvy Cleaners to encourage garment repairing before buying new in the holiday season.

Courtesy: www.wasteadvantage.com