Responsibility theme: From waste to importance (material efficiency)

Our fourth theme of responsibility concerns a very important issue for us: the efficiency of use of materials. There is practically always waste in clothing production, but this does not have to mean throwing the fabrics in the trash. Our materials are our biggest source of emissions and therefore also far too valuable to throw away. So we have made an important principled decision: we don't waste a single scrap of it!

Before the fabric even ends up in our sewing room, it has already traveled a long way. So to waste this valuable material would be pure madness. We value natural materials and use the fabric to its fullest advantage. The amount of material wasted by us in 2021 was 0 kg.

Reducing waste starts already when cutting clothes. The cutting layouts are always thought out according to the width of the fabric so that there is as little waste fabric as possible. Sometimes we make children's clothes from the same patterns as adults' clothes, and for these we can use the scraps that are left when cutting the adults' clothes. We use cardboard templates in our production, which are a bit old-fashioned and slower to use, but with them, the cutting layouts can be made new every time, saving fabric.

Our goal is that our sewing produces no textile waste at all, but that all surplus can be used either in our own production or that of our partners. We are also actively looking for new partners who are interested in our surplus materials. The surplus materials of 2021 have been delivered in the beginning of 2022 to Rester Oy, where they will be further processed into recycled fiber. Our goal is now to find a partner who, as close as possible to us, can cost-effectively manufacture fiber yarn that can be further woven or knitted into fabric. You can also contact us via email at info(at)dreamcircus.fi if our materials are suitable for your use.

We don't waste ready-made clothes either, because we keep batch sizes reasonable. We sell the last pieces at our outlet at a discount when the product is out of stock. If there is anything left after this, we donate the clothes to charity or use them ourselves. For example, in September 2021, we donated the last pieces of unsold clothes to Keski-Suomen ensi- ja turvakoti ry.

TÄHDE product series

In our own production, we also manufacture TÄHDE series products. We make TÄHDE products from leftover materials from our production, i.e. scraps! In this way, we reduce the fabric waste that is created by cutting our clothes. Our TÄHDE series currently includes five different products: mittens, hair bands, hair donuts, cotton pads and dishcloths. Some are for sale in our factory store and some in our online store.

Tying headband from the TÄHDE series.

Read more about our material efficiency in our responsibility report. You can download it here.

We previously published our 2021 sustainability report, which was the first of its kind. As a result, five themes of responsibility were also born, which we focus on especially closely in our work. We present these themes one by one in our blog in order according to the value chain.