Texworld USA, a leading trade fair for fabrics, trims and accessories, is set to open its doors to international exhibitors and visitors from 19-21 January 2015, at the Javits Convention Center, New York.

Jessica Schreiber, Programme Manager of re-fashioNYC, NYC Department of Sanitation, is one of the participants, who expects to gain benefits from taking part in the event.

“Participating in Texworld USA is a great way to share information about re-fashioNYC – that it’s easy and free. Hopefully, attendees will leave with knowledge of this NYC resource available for their homes and businesses,” she said.

Re-fashioNYC

Re-fashioNYC is New York City’s official clothing reuse and recycling programme, run in partnership with the local non-profit organisation Housing Works. It was created by the Department of Sanitation, following a waste characterisation study in 2005 that revealed that New Yorkers throw out 200,000 tons of clothing every year.

The goal of re-fashioNYC, which joins efforts of an extensive non-profit and thrift network and drop-off events, is to make clothing donation as easy as possible by allowing NYC residents to donate from home.

“The programme provides free donation bins to apartment buildings over 10 units and commercial businesses within the five boroughs. Re-fashioNYC accepts all clothing, shoes, accessories, towels, linens, and rags,” explained Jessica Schreiber.

Accessible and effective

Since the programme was launched in April 2011, NYC has donated and recycled over 3.5 million pounds of textile material.

“When Housing Works empties a bin, it is sorted at their warehouse in Long Island City. A share of the clothing is sold locally at one of their 13 thrift stores. The profits are used to support the growth of the programme and the charitable mission of Housing Works, which works to support those afflicted by homelessness and AIDS. What isn’t resold is recycled, often shredded to become the felt in the back of cars, mattress stuffing, insulation, etc,” said Schreiber.

“We’d like to make re-fashioNYC as accessible as possible. We aim to enrol as many apartment buildings as possible to increase the convenience for New Yorkers. We’d like to expand the commercial partnerships, not only to businesses with textile waste, but to provide a resource for employees and customers as well.”

www.texworldusa.com