CHICAGO – Joma International is making an environmental statement with recycled cotton, turning it into casual sweaters.
Maggi Hayes, owner of the Winnetka, Ill.-based company, says her product brings another dimension to the green movement: Some apparel makers have been using organic and unbleached cotton as well as recycled polyester and other man-made fibers.
“Recycled paper was around for years before it became politically correct. It’s the same for recycled cotton, but it hasn’t been in the market before in a real practical way,” Hayes said.
The line, which goes by the brand name Waste Knot, should exceed $2 million in sales in 1994, she said. Joma has been in business seven years, making alpaca, wool and cotton sweaters under the Joma and Alice Marie by Joma brands. The recycled cotton line made its debut for the current spring season.
Both the recycled yarn and the sweaters are manufactured in Peru. The process involves gathering clippings from new cotton garments and combining them with virgin cotton yarn. The mix, of 85 percent recycled material and 15 percent virgin cotton, is then respun into yarn with a melange look to it.
“There are mountains of clippings around the world which must be disposed of or reused. To recycle them back into a sweater is pretty exciting,” Hayes said.
It took a couple of years to develop a durable and attractive product, she said.
The yarn is manufactured in seven shades derived from the clippings’ original dyed colors – blue clippings, for example, give rise to an indigo fabric. The overall effect is a soft, speckled, tweed-like pastel.
The line has 15 pieces, including vests, turtlenecks, cardigans and tunics. Besides being environmentally correct, the recycled yarn enables Hayes to keep prices down – from $17 to $25, wholesale.
“It’s a lot less expensive to remake something than to start from scratch,” Hayes noted.
She said she has about 25 accounts, mainly small specialty stores, in Chicago and elsewhere in the Midwest, and plans to target the rest of the country with a slightly heavier fall line. She is also negotiating with a number of catalog companies.
Related Articles
You May Also Like
According to Susann Craig, who represents the line in Chicago, the best-selling styles so far are a shallow V-neck sweater, a boxy crewneck and cardigan, and a roll-neck tunic.
“The styles hold their own. People aren’t just buying them to save the world,” she said.
“Despite the green aspect, they look good, they’re stylish, the colors are wonderful and I think they’ll appeal to a broad range of people,” said Marifran Carlson, owner of Laughing Iguana, Wilmette, Ill., which ordered the line for spring.
Looking ahead, Hayes said she is developing a finer yarn for T-shirts.