INTERVIEW #88 REUSED REMADE
Based in: Sweden, Stockholm
Founded in: 2016
Founded by: Pia Walter and Josephine Alhanko
Stores: at www.reusedremade.com. So far, only Reused Remade only delivers in Sweden. The white labelled products, such as Svenskt Tenn, NK and Bookbinders, are found at their flagship stores in Sweden.
Price range: from 69 SEK – 359 SEK
Reused Remade. Welcome to A Sustainable Closet! Tell us about your business and why you founded Reused Remade?
Reused Remade was founded in the fall of 2016 and is based on a vision to make a difference in the world and contribute to a more sustainable way of life. The starting point was the 2015 UN climate conference in Paris, where the enormous issue of plastic waste was highlighted. With this in mind, we started to look for an alternative material to produce multi-functional and reusable carrier bags. We came across used/discarded hotel bed linen and we realized that we were on to something good. For the first two and a half years, we worked from our kitchen table, doing everything from setting up a business plan, selling the idea to potential clients, making prototypes, and packing and shipping the bedding ourselves. It felt so meaningful from day one and we were both convinced that this would take off one day. In December 2017 we launched with our first major client, Systembolaget.
What is the most frequent reused material?
Hotel bedsheets and duvet covers, collected from laundry service companies, is the most reused material. This material has roughly the same shape, colour and size all over the world, thus suitable for production at scale and possible to transform into new products for everyday use. Starting a few years back we also collect terry cloths and tablecloths to be up-cycled into beauty accessories and work wear.
What is the most bought product?
Our Carry bag Food model is by far our best-selling product. The bag is inspired by the design of a classic plastic bag, with the ability to handle the volume and weight of groceries and is available at large Swedish supermarket chains such as ICA, Hemköp, Tempo, Matsmart.se as well as in Edeka in Germany.
We are curious about how you source the material for your products, as well as where the products are being manufactured.
We choose our partners carefully. We only work with laundry service companies, stitching factories and printing facilities that follow ethical and fair production practices. We have production in Lithuania and in Pakistan, and our production in Pakistan is certified as a Good Environmental Choice (Bra Miljöval). When sourcing the material our main cooperation is with laundry service companies. Together with our partners, we help extend the lifecycle of existing textiles and give them a brand-new life.
Who is the typical Reused Remade customer?
Our typical customer is a woman between 25-59 years of age who wants to have an environmentally friendly and sustainable lifestyle. She is willing to spend extra for products with a positive impact on our planet, buy from ethical companies and pay more for stylish design.
What have been and are the major challenges of starting your own business?
Being the first is always challenging. With a vision of up-cycling textiles at a large scale and creating a supply chain to make it possible to choose the most sustainable product for every day with an attractive design at a reasonable cost. We want to make our products accessible to everyone by designing products that will last and have an effective supply chain in order to reduce costs. It has been both challenging and rewarding to establish our partnerships with the laundry service companies to secure sourcing of raw material, find solutions to move a used material across borders, adapt the production to this “new” raw material, getting the right investors on board and educating purchasing and consumer of the fantastic positive impact the reusing of an existing textile has on the climate and environment.
Where do you find inspiration?
The inspiration and energy come from knowing that we are creating something that will help to safeguard this beautiful planet for generations to come. Additionally, our clients and customers are great sources as we can take their ideas and create products that meet their needs. We started with bags and today we have added a complete beauty range as well as work wear and packaging material.
What have been and are the largest gains?
To know that we, so far, have saved 1.9 billion litres of fresh water and 1500 tons of CO2 compared to virgin cotton, is the best reward.
How can we together inspire more brands to produce from repurposed materials?
By showing that it is possible and helping the consumers and purchasers to truly understand the greatness of reusing. And teach them that the higher price you might pay for these products will be worthwhile if we, as producers, make sure that we create products with a long life expectancy.
The best thing about Reused Remade?
Working with a great team where each and every one of us shares the vision of a more sustainable lifestyle where we still are allowed to surround ourselves with beautiful things useful in everyday life.
What's up next?
We’re focusing on international expansion, starting with selected countries in Europe. and we are growing in the market segment for packaging where our clients exchange plastic or virgin textile for our re-used material.