Remade Community Textiles Recycling 

Martin Buchanan 2008

Remade is a community led textiles recycling project. In 2005/2007 we were centrally located in the heart of the community within a building that had been an old public convenience but due to misuse and vandalism was closed in 1997. Several buildings were offered to us by Leicester city council but we chose this one as it fulfilled one of our aims, which was to create a community resource and would have the most impact on our immediate location.

The building was an eyesore to the community, being boarded up and regularly vandalised. In renovating this building we reused and recycled the building itself using reclaimed materials and local trade’s people. The local community were very interested in what we were doing and many expressed relief that the building was finally being used for some good. The renovations were the beginning of the volunteer involvement at Remade with all of the 6000+ man hours being provided on a voluntary basis. This has continued since the project became fully functional with all the work being done by volunteers. The old public convenience which we nicknamed ‘the bunker’ is now being used as a community point for the police force obviously the local police were impressed by the level of security we had installed!  

We try very hard to fulfil our social aims and by keeping very close links with the local authority departments, schools, committees and universities, parents and young people, we are able to deliver projects which people really want. We have so far provided materials to local schools and given work experience to local university students. We also have local self employed designers who tutor for us, most of all we have inspired and motivated volunteers to develop their own projects and create real change in their communities.

In our after school workshops we teach local children and young people how to reuse and recycle textiles into new or redesigned fashion items. This culminates in a fashion show which then involves other students and parents in the whole idea of textiles recycling and more importantly builds the confidence and aspirations of young people.We acquire materials from various donors, recycling mostly industrial waste from companies such as Next UK. This material is used by the tutors and young people in after school workshops. We also take surplus material to schools which they are extremely grateful for. This material is then used in new and exciting ways and saved from land fill sites!

Remade is a project that has arisen from the local community of Beaumont-Leys, Leicester, it is a unique project in the sense that it has been volunteer led since its conception in 2005, we were amalgamated into Leicester North West Alchemy Ltd. A registered charity in 2008 and is constantly planning and delivering new and exciting activities for young people in our locale.  

A quote from Martin Buchanan was included in this write up by the Leicester Mercury on the Go Green-Save money event on Thursday 7th August 2008, which Remade had a stand and presented some of the projects we had been working on.