CREDIT: Worth
Worth is a sustainable fashion brand that sees the value in end-of-use textiles. By partnering with Fanshawe College’s Fashion Design Program and Goodwill Industries, Worth is giving a new life to products that otherwise might have been discarded.
“Our main goal is to divert textile waste from the secondhand streams, and remanufacture it into new clothing,” says Clara Tuckey an e-commerce marketing assistant with Goodwill Industries. “So essentially seeing the worth that’s left in these textiles that often are going to landfills, and sort of reclaiming that worth again.”
Worth started simply as a research project. “It started with myself and another faculty from the Fashion Design program, Meredith Jones and a third faculty Cassie Hopper,” says Jennifer Wright, a professor of Fashion Design at Fanshawe. “We applied for funding to come up with solutions to diverting fast fashion and textile waste from landfills while employing newcomers and people with barriers to employment in the process.”
The project grew to include not only faculty, but students as well. “We actually have two graduates from the Fashion Design Program. Jane and Crystal and they started with Worth in the fall. They put together the Spring 2022 Collection,” said Wright.
CREDIT: Worth
From totes to tie back tops, this season quilts are worth raving about. “One of the biggest breaks for us was when A$AP Rocky wore the quilt at the Met Gala,” noted Wright. “They’re always looking at all different areas to come up with their ideas. And what happens after a while when you’re looking and doing such a huge wide scan is you start to see common patterns and common themes. So that’s what you then start to design towards.”
“We felt it was really appropriate because quilts and blankets are sort of like a safety thing,” Tuckey says. “They’re so comfortable and cozy and a lot of us have spent the last few years at home under our blankets just trying to feel safe. So we wanted to sort of mirror that in the designs for this line.”
“Basically, we take an entire quilt and we clean it. Then we cut it and try and use as much as we can. That’s a huge part of our philosophy; zero waste. So any off-cuts get reused into other things.”
CREDIT: Worth
For Tuckey, being a part of Worth is more than just a job. It’s personal to her. “When I think about all of the waste that we see, whether it enters a global secondhand market or just straight up enters landfills, it is kind of sad to see quilts and things like that go to waste.” Tuckey notes that many of the quilts that Worth repurposes are handmade which makes it even more meaningful to give these textiles a second life.
While Worth’s main storefront is online, Tuckey says that they’re starting to experiment with in person shopping. “That’s a huge part of it, especially with our items being one of a kind. It’s really great to see and try on before buying. We’ve expanded into the Goodwill boutique in Hyde Park. So you can go there to try on items and shop as well.”
Worth is also gearing up to host a pop-up shop at Somerville 630 on Saturday, April 9. So despite what grandma made you believe, quilts are completely on trend.
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