How in the world to find landfill-bound fabric if you don't live in a fashion district
In my low-waste endeavors, I naturally gravitate toward forgotten, used, or damaged textiles. And what started as cutting apart old, ripped jeans slowly turned into a desire to hunt for fine fabrics headed for the garbage can… the only problem was I didn’t know where to find them.
A lot of designers I follow claim to use deadstock fabric, but many of them are in New York or LA, where the fashion resources are plentiful. I wanted to know how to get my hands on deadstock fabrics right here, in Cleveland, Ohio.
I did my research
Here’s a collection of online shops to source deadstock from, along with a couple of tips on how to find it locally to you.
Online Shops:
Ideas:
- Check out your local solid waste/textile waste management or recycling programs. Sometimes they’ll list estate sales and clear-outs that include fabrics.
- Check Facebook groups and/or Facebook Marketplace.
- Terms to search: “destash” “sewing supplies” “fabric”
- Ask around. In my research, I located a couple nearby(ish) second-hand craft stores that just so happen to carry notions and fabric:
- Upcycle Parts Shop (Cleveland, OH)
- Esperanza Threads (Cleveland, OH)
- Indigo Hippo (Cincinnati, OH)
- Get creative.
- Yard sales. ‘Tis the season (a town near me does a city-wide yard sale weekend every summer).
- Host a fabric swap! Get threads and friends at the same time. ❤️
- Ask your grandmother. She probably has some fabric.
My trip to Esperanza Threads
Esperanza is an amazing non-profit org in Cleveland that teaches sewing to immigrant and financially insecure folks. They also happen to have an entire basement full of secondhand fabrics that they open up to the public every Friday.
My take: The selection, amazing. The prices, unheard of. I got these babies at $2/yard for a grand total of $11 dollars :')
So far, I’m thinking I’ll make throw pillows and pajamas. I’ll let you know how it goes.