Review: FABSCRAP

Note: This post is in no way sponsored by or affiliated with FABSCRAP. I’m just really excited about their services! 

Through this blog, I hope to articulate that slow fashion – fashion that doesn’t exploit people or the planet – takes many shapes. One flavor (perhaps my favorite): repurposing existing material that would have otherwise been sent to a landfill or incinerator. When going this route, you have even less control over how the materials were created than if you were to purchase fabric by the yard, when you can at least look out for Lenzing or OEKO-TEX certified products. With repurposed materials, however, you aren’t increasing demand for new materials and are reducing (albeit infinitesimally) the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere through burning and decomposition. I’ve written about repurposing hand-me-down clothes but there are two main limitations to this: 

There are two FABSCRAP locations in NYC, which are open for shopping (only one is open and only by appointment these pandemic-ridden days), and an online store. In person, customers can pick through, choose specific items, and pay by the yard of fabric. The online store, however, primarily offers “Yard Packs” and “Scrap Packs”. With these, you don’t have a choice of print, color, or weave type but instead choose from warm, cool, neutral, or dark colors as well as natural or synthetic fiber types. For $24 you get 3-4 different natural fiber fabrics totaling 3 yards (so each is ¾ -1 yard) or for $4 you get the same in synthetic fibers. 

By opting for the Natural Packs, I am purchasing high-end fabric for $8 a yard, a small fraction of the original retail cost. Muslin (for test-fitting garments) typically runs about $3 per yard, so $8 for high-end materials that are not contributing greenhouse gases or employing people in dangerous conditions? I’m fortunate enough to consider that a great deal. So what if I don’t know exactly what I’m getting? For me, that’s part of the fun!

The Trade-off

With this purchase I’m trading control over print, fiber, and weave type for designer-fabrics at prices attractive to a still-learning maker like myself. There’s a trade-off when we buy fast fashion too: low costs, but poor quality goods and harmful production. 

At this stage in my learning, I don’t mind the minimal control. As counterintuitive as it may be, I propose that scarcity inspires good design. Perhaps it’s a consequence of my novice status, but many of the design details I’m most proud of were a result of not having exactly what I thought I needed.

It’s also a good way to get my hands on new fabric types. It’s still a bit overwhelming to me how many combinations of fiber content and weave type there are. It has been wonderfully informative to touch, work with, and try to identify materials that my local fabric shop doesn’t carry and are too expensive to purchase online for the purposes of experimentation.

Lastly, I find the challenge empowering. Design is the process of navigating resources and needs. Poor design requires unlimited resources and meets few needs – that’s exactly the foundation fast fashion is built on. Good design, by contrast, requires minimal resources and meets the needs of the wearer and her environment.

The Goods

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t see the first $48 I put towards two Yard Packs as a gamble. It was recommended to me by a fellow sustainable fashion advocate so I was intrigued, but I was half expecting outdated prints and drapeless cottons. My doubt disappeared as soon as my Dark and Warm Yard Packs arrived. Of the 6 pieces I received, I was lukewarm about one, glad to have two, and thrilled about three. Here’s what I received (in order of fondness):

Dark Yard Pack

Warm Yard Pack

I only learned of FABSCRAP within the past few months so I haven’t been to either physical location, but I’m eager to check them out as soon as non-essential travel is safe again. In the meantime, I might have to gamble on a couple more Yard Packs.