This Company Turns Your Scrap Fabric Into Beautiful Branded Accessories

Kapdaa gives end-of-roll and offcut fabrics a new life

Reducing waste has always been a top priority for more efficient business but the pressure is piling on fashion brands to reduce the amount of textile sent to landfill to protect the environment too. 

The Council for Textile Recycling estimates that 25 billion pounds of textile waste is generated in the US alone and 85% of that ends up in landfill. While there are many schemes to rescue fabric from the cutting room floor and send it for recycling or to be upcycled by other brands, greater uptake of these initiatives is being hampered by the need for brands to protect the intellectual property.

However, one unique company is providing a solution that’s proving popular with clients including Selfridges, Halston Heritage, Alice + Olivia, Orlebar Brown, Erdem and more.

Kapdaa started life as a B2C company, turning fabric off cuts into bookmarks but when furniture brand Galapagos approached them to help upcycle their wastage, the business took a whole new turn. Over the past two and a half years, they’ve helped save approximately 5,250 meters of fabric by turning it into stylish, handcrafted products ranging from notebooks to slippers, eye masks and passport holders to be used as marketing gifts by the brands who designed the fabric. In some instances, they’ve even created limited edition products to be sold directly to customers too.

Nishant Parekh is the co-founder of Kapdaa. He previously worked in advertising and marketing for the likes of Saatchi & Saatchi and Ogilvy before starting the business inspired by the scraps of fabric left behind by his fashion designer mother.

“The biggest advantage I’ve found over time is the IP and design issue. All the fashion designers and the interior designers, they’re very reluctant of giving out anything because they feel that someone will take advantage of their design.”