Looptworks

Give an Upcycled Gift this Holiday Season

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Day 337 – Back on Day 240, I wrote about Looptworks. They take material destined for the landfill and create items for reuse. They have bags of every kind, aprons, clothes and face masks. I thought I would share even more suggestion for upcycled gifts.

Nowhere Collective – This gift guide lists numerous artists using recycled materials to create their upcycled items. Amazing one-of-a-kind gifts to give to friends and family.

Upcycle It Now – A mother-daughter company that has a three-pronged mission: give materials a second life, create useful and beautiful goods, and provide skilled jobs for their community.

Upcycled – Based in Missoula, Montana, this shop features arts and crafts from local Montana artisans. 

Upcycle That – Not only do they sell upcycled items, but also give a wide range of ideas and tutorials for upcycling different materials and making unique items.

Etsy – There is a plethora of artists on Etsy selling their upcycled gifts.

Uncommon Goods – They are known for their unique gifts, but they also have numerous upcycled gifts, as well.

Rareform – Bags made from billboard signs.

A few other great posts to check out:

23 Practical Upcycled Gift Ideas For Him & Her

21 Upcycled Gift Ideas

Give the gift of something old becoming something new this holiday season.

Tomorrow, indoor vertical farms.

Sustainable Holiday Gift Guide

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Day 335 – You may be already done with your holiday shopping. Or you haven’t even started. Whatever the case may be, it’s always a great idea to purchase gifts that will help people and the environment. Not only will you feel good giving special gifts to family and friends, but you can feel good that your gift will have a positive impact on the planet.

Here are 15 ideas from posts that I have written this year.

  1. Day 21 – Blueland – eco-friendly cleaning products
  2. Day 152 – Eco-friendly Toys
  3. Day 164 – Sustainable Phone Cases
  4. Day 178 – Eco-friendly Sunglasses
  5. Day 193 – Clothing made from recycled plastic
  6. Day 199 – Zero Waste Makeup Brands
  7. Day 205 – Igloo EcoCoolers
  8. Day 237 – Eco-friendly Yoga Mats
  9. Day 240 – Looptworks – Upcycled gifts
  10. Day 257 – Lost Golf Balls – used and recycled golf balls
  11. Day 272 – Sustainable Pet Products
  12. Day 293 – Green Goo – Skin care derived from plants
  13. Day 300 – EcoSports – Eco-friendly sporting equipment
  14. Day 324 – Rumpl – Eco-friendly blankets
  15. Day 327 – MC Squares – reusable sticky notes

Other great options include:

  1. Earth Hero – variety of Earth-friendly gifts
  2. UNICEF Market
  3. Certified B Corporation gift guide
  4. Creative Chicago Reuse Exchange – gifts for the artists in your life
  5. 4Ocean – gifts that help clean the oceans
  6. Gift card to commercial composting service
  7. Climate Pledge Products on Amazon

One more list to help you out:

20 Awesome Holiday Gifts that Help the Planet

Tomorrow, giving a gift donation.

Looptworks: Upcycled Fashion

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Day 240 – The word upcycle was first used in the early 1990s. Upcycling is defined as the reuse of discarded objects or material in such a way as to create a product of higher quality or value than the original. Today, upcycling is more popular then ever. We are running out of space to put our trash. So, we need to find ways to reuse our stuff and get a second and possibly a third life out of them.

We now have companies that upcycle materials to create new products for resale. Looptworks is one of those companies. They are a Portland, Oregon based business that re-purposes and upcycles abandoned, pre-consumer and post-consumer materials into limited edition products.

“All the materials used to create Looptworks products at one time were headed to the landfill, or worse. We intercept and utilize these industry excess materials, transforming them into new, useful products — a process known as upcycling. Our sustainable, eco-friendly products are made in limited editions, and in the process save materials from landfills or incinerators.” – Looptworks

Looptworks has collaborated with numerous companies to create new products from discarded materials.

  1. They have partnered with professional kiteboarder and swimsuit entrepreneur Sensi Graves. Their bags are designed from pre-consumer excess kiteboarding kite material.
  2. They partnered with the NBA to give a second life to all those game jerseys that become obsolete. They created backpacks and crossbody bags.
  3. They partnered with Southwest Airlines when they replaced their heavy leather airline seats with a lighter weight material. Southwest Airlines wanted to ensure that the journey didn’t end for 80,000 leather seat covers. Looptworks upcycled the seat leather into the In Flight Collection.
  4. Looptworks partnered with Patagonia to upcycle retired Patagonia fly fishing waders. The result is an insulated wine carrier and Tate lunch bag.

Looptworks is always looking for new partners and the possibilities are endless. I look forward to seeing what new and improved products they will create from materials that were once on their way to the landfill.

I almost forgot to mention, Looptworks is a Certified B Corporation!

Tomorrow, glass recycling.