In a world where textile factories produce over 90 million tons of waste every year, BFA Fashion Design/Sustainable Systems student Ramisa Rouf has decided to take action. The Parsons School of Design senior created Denim Shenim, an upcycling company presented for her thesis with goals to expand post-graduation.
Denim Shenim hosts garment upcycling workshops, teaching others how to turn denim waste into functional, wearable pieces. Rouf started the company in her sophomore year at The New School to help lower the production of denim waste found in factories in Bangladesh, where Rouf is from.
“My mom has a factory in Bangladesh, so I grew up really close to this industry,” she said. Her mother’s factory produces mostly denim items, which gave her an in to the factories she’s focusing on.
Rouf started the company with the intention of it “originally being a [clothing] brand,” she said. “But I quickly realized that designing clothes isn’t something that comes naturally to me.” She then decided to focus her attention on the technical side of fashion design, acting as production manager to help others translate their designs into something they can use day-to-day.
On February 4, Rouf hosted a workshop at DhakaMakers 2.0 in Bangladesh, an arts and crafts festival that highlights the city’s creative community.
“Over winter break, I was like, okay, I’m going to host a workshop and see how that goes. And [during] those three weeks as I was working on all of this, I realized that I kind of forgot about the thesis part and it was more just making a space for creative people to come and make stuff,” she said.
Workshop participants followed along as Rouf explained how to make a tote bag out of the denim scraps. Everyone at the workshop was new to sewing and reusing materials, but left understanding how to make their own upcycled tote.
All the denim Rouf uses is sourced from her mother’s ready-made garment (RMG) factory in Bangladesh. “I go to her warehouse and ask them to send me all the C-grade waste,” she said.
C-grade waste is the lowest rating of fabric waste, with the fabric being severely damaged and unable for use. These scraps are periodically used for rags or construction purposes, but are usually sent to the landfill. A and B-grade waste is usually fixed and resold with the next wave of orders or sold to local vendors in Dhaka. Rouf decided to work only with C-grade waste after seeing how much went unsalvaged.
“Bangladesh is the world’s second-largest manufacturer and exporter of RMG products, which stands for Ready Made Garments,” she said. “There’s a lot of waste that is generated. And a huge percentage of that does get taken care of in the local economy, but the absolute worst category of waste, which is the C-grade waste, doesn’t really get used.”
Having access to a steady supply of denim waste will ensure that she’s able to continue the company and inspires her to spread the word about denim waste to other factory owners in her hometown. In the future, Rouf plans to source C-grade waste from other factories as well, working with the owners to build a more sustainable garment industry.
“I’m going to talk to them [and ask] if they’re willing to give me their C-grade waste, because usually they just get sold in bulk to whoever takes them, or otherwise they’re just lying there in the warehouse.”
Denim Shenim began as Rouf’s thesis project for her Systems and Society major. Growing up visiting her mother’s textile factory, she often saw large quantities of wasted denim. One day, however, her mom took denim intended for a baby’s overalls and turned it into a tote bag.
“I found that so cool,” Rouf said, “I’m like, wait, we could do stuff like that for my project. I thought there could be a lot that could be made with these waste garments.”
When it came time to choose a topic for her thesis, denim waste was the issue she felt most passionate about. Her professors, Tara Maurice and Mary Beth Mcdermott, helped her focus her talents on building community around the brand and planning events to grow the company.
“Their support is like a huge reason why I even continued this for my thesis,” she said.
When first presenting her thesis, she envisioned Denim Shenim as a long-term project, hopefully blossoming into a company with a designated studio space and employees. So far, Rouf’s friends have helped her with everything from building the website, starting a Discord server, and buying materials for workshops she’s held in Dhaka.
In Bangladesh, Rouf plans to connect artists and designers to resources and materials, helping them bring their vision to life.
“I have a couple of goals. One is to just improve the art and design education and have more resources available for artists and designers in Bangladesh because there isn’t as many,” she said. “And another goal is to utilize the waste that is generated from RMG factories.”
Rouf created sewing kits she handed out at the workshop, which included everything one might need to craft a denim tote on the go. She plans to sell these kits online along with scraps that people can order to create their own upcycling projects, introducing makers to “the world of designing using existing materials,” she said. The sky-blue kits are full of different colors of thread, a notebook, pencils, a tape measure, and a needle box. Each box comes with a Denim Shenim sticker placed on its clear lid. The kits would create an accessible approach for anyone who might want to begin their own upcycling journey.
“None of these people know how to sew or make clothes at all, so it was really fun helping them out and teaching them little sewing and pattern making stuff,” she said. “And then just seeing their reaction to when their clothes are being made or their products are being made was just the best part.”
While hosting the workshop, Rouf also gave lessons on sustainable design practices to the attendees. She led them through the different uses for textile waste, raising awareness on the waste produced by the factories she and her friends grew up around.
Rouf collaborated with RMG factory owners in Bangladesh to reduce waste altogether through implementing official efficient manufacturing systems in their factories. She hopes to inspire future generations of artists and designers to use more upcycled materials, rethinking extractive design practices and harmful ways of making clothes.
“We give Bangladesh artists and designers technical support so they can make whatever they like as long as they’re using consumer waste materials from RMG factories in Bangladesh,” she said.
Rouf is also motivated by the prospect of bringing a new source of artistic expression to Bangladesh. “Growing up I realized there aren’t that many resources for creative people back home,” she said. “Art and design education is just something that’s [viewed as], ‘Oh yeah, you can do it but it’s not going to get you anywhere.’ I want to get Bengalis more involved with that, and then show them there’s so much more that you can do with all of this.”
She has connected with Bengalis of New York to help them go back to their roots while exploring creative fields they may not have access to in their home country. She said a lot of people really want to pursue fashion or the arts, but their families aren’t supportive and they don’t know where to go. Rouf also plans to start a workshop where participants would, again, upcycle denim scraps, but with a more Bengali technique flair.
“It’s more like getting people in touch with the culture, and at the same time using denim upcycling as the base of everything,” Rouf said.
After the success of hosting a workshop at DhakaMakers, Rouf is ready to continue to expand Denim Shenim and spread the message about textile waste. With goals to acquire studio space and work with other factories in the future, the company isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.