Billie Eilish & UMG upcycle 400k unsold t-shirts into new merch

[Teletubby 148,758]

Singer Billie Eilish and her mother, Maggie Baird, have been working with Universal Music Group (UMG)  to find a more sustainable solution for the thousands of pounds of unsold concert merchandise the label has in its massive Nashville warehouse. Bravado, UMG’s merch arm, has stored unsold apparel there for years, if not decades.
 

Rather than simply donating them – which can, in some sectors, just lead to apparel ending up in landfills or incinerated – Bravado partnered with Spanish clothing designer and textile manufacturer Hallotex to upcycle the old concert merch into new.
 

The company is shipping more than 400,000 old T-shirts to Morocco, where Hallotex will unspool them into cotton yarn and then respin them into more than 280,000 new 100% cotton tees that UMG artists will use in the fall. Shirts that can’t be recycled will be shredded and turned into housing insulation.
 

“We are drowning in clothes on this planet, much of which is in landfills, much of which is shipped to other countries to pollute their waters and their land,” Baird – Eilish’s mother – told Fast Company. “I think we have to be extremely thoughtful about what merch gets put out in the world – why does it exist, how is it made and what happens to it in its second life?” 
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[weed 73,759]

I feel like the decades old merch would absolutely sell as is, idek whose merch it's for and i'm like wat!! decades old unused merch!! but slay for them, love the concept. Fashion/clothing is #3 most polluting industry on the planet

[jimmytimestep 2,686]

Love this, good for Billie and her mom!

[tlittlemonster 1,489]

Perhaps if labels weren't so greedy and if they sold the merch for a fairer price, they wouldn't end up with thousands of unsold merch?

Curious to know which artists have the most unsold merch...

[PartySick 159,824]

I'm so happy I'm seeing her this year

How have I not stanned her before

[Bonkers 29,482]

pfft

Lady Gaga upcycled nachos and gets no credit 

[Flareon Voyager 378]

Didn’t her label just put out an anniversary vinyl though? Maybe merch would sell if these labels didn’t price it at $100..

Billie, Coldplay… just don’t release physical media or items.

[Aglaya 8,388]

Gaga should do the same! Stop wasting new resources and release Act II  

[artdoll 46,199]

4 hours ago, tlittlemonster said:

Perhaps if labels weren't so greedy and if they sold the merch for a fairer price, they wouldn't end up with thousands of unsold merch?

Curious to know which artists have the most unsold merch...

Agreed.

There's absolutely no reason for a t-shirt to cost $50 and a hoodie to cost over $100. The quality half of the time definitely does not make up for the price point.