My design journey has always started with the material.
In 2001, I was sewing clothes from vintage floral pillowcases and trim, selling them at Seattle’s Pike Place Market. A vintage wholesaler saw my work and invited me to explore his warehouse. That’s where I discovered a stack of vibrant wool men’s golf pants—and the texture, weight, and quirkiness were perfect for the bag design I’d been dreaming about. I turned those pant legs into my first handbags, and from that moment on, repurposed textiles have remained at the heart of everything I make.
Fast forward 15 years later to Brooklyn, where I was introduced to Jessica Schreiber through Celeste Lilore at the Brooklyn Fashion + Design Accelerator. Jessica had just left her role at the NYC Department of Sanitation, where she managed the city’s residential textile recycling program. In that job, she’d witnessed firsthand the staggering amounts of perfectly good, high-end fabric being discarded by designers and fashion houses. There was no system in place to capture this pre-consumer waste—the fabric that’s tossed before a garment is ever made.
Jessica had an idea: launch a nonprofit textile recycling service called FABSCRAP to collect and redistribute excess materials from NYC designers. But to get it off the ground, she needed proof—specifically, proof that designers could and would use these discarded materials to create viable products.
She called me.
The Two-Day Challenge: From Trash to Treasure
Jessica handed me a box of leather offcuts—vibrant metallics, animal prints, and unique textures—all leftovers from a Manhattan shoe factory. I had two days to turn that pile of scraps into something meaningful.
I got to work sorting, drafting, and sewing. By the end of the 48-hour sprint, I had created:
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Metallic headphone tacos
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Colorful card wallets
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Coin pouches
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A patchwork clutch
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A leather backpack
These weren’t just cute accessories—they were a proof of concept. My designs showed investors and future partners that fashion waste could become something beautiful, functional, and sellable.
🎥 You can watch the full process in the video below.
Why It Mattered
This was more than a design challenge—it was a pivotal moment in launching FABSCRAP’s mission. That initial project helped Jessica demonstrate that discarded textiles weren’t trash—they were untapped resources. And it helped turn FABSCRAP from an idea into a full-fledged nonprofit.
Since that early collaboration, FABSCRAP has:
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Diverted over 1.5 million pounds of fabric from landfills
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Saved the carbon equivalent of planting 154,000+ trees
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Rescued more than 6 million pounds of pre-consumer textile waste generated during the design phase—waste that most people never seeFabscrap - where and wh…
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Built a thriving creative reuse community, including student discounts and volunteer sorting programs
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Shown the industry that circular design is not only possible—it’s necessary
And all of this from a team of just 15 employees and a bold idea that started with a single box of scraps.
Why This Story Still Matters
Globally, 6.3 million tons of fabric are wasted each year during the production process alone. . This kind of pre-consumer waste—swatches, yardage, headers, prototypes—rarely makes headlines, but it’s a silent contributor to the fashion industry’s environmental footprint.
My collaboration with FABSCRAP was a small but powerful example of what’s possible when designers rethink the life cycle of materials. It was also a reminder of what matters most to me: creating beauty with intention, challenging norms, and using what we already have.
Want to Be Part of the Solution?
✨ Many of my current bags are still made with reclaimed materials—from vintage upholstery to FABSCRAP-sourced textiles.
👜 When you carry a Crystalyn Kae bag, you’re choosing style with a story—and saying no to fast fashion’s throwaway culture.
🌱 Every piece you carry is part of a more circular future.
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