"Wastecoat"

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IM Swedish Development Partner wanted to buy some bags that could be used for a campaign they were running and Thomas asked if MESH could supply. We were especially happy as one of our partners, a weaving group in Little Flower Leprosy colony in Bihar, had built up a huge stock of cotton fabrics and their working capital was all tied up in the stock. We offered that fabric for the bags and IM was happy to help out a fair trade group with cash flow problems of this kind and so the fabric was dispatched to MESH in Delhi. We then sent it, with all the bag specifications, to Society for Child Development (SCD), a great production unit based in Delhi that employs men and women with disabilities.





They started cutting and sewing the bags and got them printed. We have recently appointed a new designer and a visit was arranged to SCD so that she could at least meet some of the producers based in Delhi. In the course of the visit we found ourselves in the sewing room where the IM bags were being stitched…it was frantic with activity but there, hanging on one of the machines, was a lovely pale pink waistcoat with a great story.

One of the prime focusses of SCD is their passion for recycling and upcycling to reduce waste. They also have loads of experience weaving anything into fabric - even sweetie wrappers.





It seems that after cutting out all the bags there was a lot of bits of waste cloth, pieces on the edges, selvedges etc. The team in SCD wove those pieces into a fabric which they dyed in natural dyes and stitched up into the beautiful waistcoat which they lined with garment factory left overs.



Now that’s what we call useful no waste!

If you would like custom made bags with branding or messages, please let us know here who knows what we might get out of the left overs!

If you would like to know more about those waistcoats please do contact us .