Unfortunately the weather was very miserable so we were drenched before we even stepped in the door. The first presentations were focused on firstly a general understanding of The Smith Family (presented by Cathy Bray CEO and Adrian Brennan). Secondly there was a presentation on the clothing recycling by Delores D'Costa, the operations manager. Thirdly there was a presentation on non woven plant materials by Adrian Brennan.
Of these I found Delores presentation the most interesting.. I think if i did fashion design possibly Adrian's would have been more interesting however with the idea of designing new clothing banks or spaces which could assist in these reycling methods, Delores was the most interesting.
Some points taken from the day:
- TSF has a capacity to manage over 12million kgs of clothing oer year, There are corporate and in store donations. They sell yesterdays fashion at affordable prices with quality products. They target market consists of lower end shoppers and they are often regular browsers.
- Some of the competitors include Target, Ebay, Salvation Army, Kmart, Best & Less and Vinnies.
- The clothes if not put into a retail store then can be 1. Exported, 2. Turned into wiper (30x30cm sheets), 3. NW Business (for rag tearing- only can be done with clothing that has no buttons, toggles or zips. 4. Waste.
-Manage over 700 banks each with a general building cost of close to $800.
-Dumping is a major problem as people don't read the labels on the clothing banks.
After splitting into groups we were then taken outside and shown how the trucks firstly get weighed with the clothing they have brought with them. Once the truck is emptied it is then taken back and weighed to calculate the weight ot the clothing itself, and i think the collector is paid depending on the weight of this..
We were then taken through the three lines. Line 1: Virgin or recycled Fibre, line 2: Reclaimed 'regenerated' fibre, 3. Virgin, Recycled or reclaimed, 'regenerated' fibres.
What was really interesting was the amount of products that TSF manufactures:
including:
-car fabrics
-woven image
-weed matting, soil stabilisation and capillary
-reusable wipes
-insulation batts
-bowling green underlay
-printed bar mats
-furniture removal blankets
-filtration fabrics (general industrail filter fabrics)
With all these new products it leaves quite a lot of room for innovation and design. Another part of the presentation that i found more fun was the creative use of the collection banks. MetalMasters in the UK has come up with a few styles of collection banks:
