Banners with a (Re)Purpose

When helping the less fortunate, it’s usually best to remember the adage, “Give a man a fish, and he’ll eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he’ll eat forever.” Denver resident Beth McWhirter internalized that proverb when she founded The Mission Wear, a company that hires at-risk women, especially those who are recovering from drug addiction, domestic violence or lives in prostitution, and trains them to work with industrial sewing machines to, among other items, manufacture tote bags made from recycled banner material.

“In addition to helping women with troubled pasts stabilize their lives with work, it’s a functional way to create a reusable product for everyday use while keeping waste out of landfills,” she said.

Mission Wear typically employs four or five women at one time, most of whom are referred from social-service agencies. They produce from 1,500 to 3,000 bags annually from old banners. McWhirter said they obtain most of their material from companies and organizations that have frequent banner-campaign changeovers, such as grocery stores, performing-arts venues and the Denver Convention and Visitors Bureau. Some of its clients have been such non-profit organizations as the Denver History Museum and the Cherry Creek Art Festival, and several Whole Foods Markets stores have ordered Mission Wear products as well.

Before they begin the production process, they clean the material with a bleach solution. She said, “We usually prefer vinyl banners because the material’s sheen makes them more attractive for upcycling into bags. Show banners, such as those from Wicked or South Pacific, tend to sell the fastest.”

By next summer, McWhirter hopes to employ eight women who operate seven machines. She said her most successful former employee was Linda, who’d been released from a two-year prison sentence and lost custody of her children. McWhirter said, “During her two-year period working with us, she became our seamstress manager, regained custody of her two sons, moved into a house with them and got a full-time sewing job elsewhere.”

If you’d like to donate surplus material to Mission Wear, contact McWhirter at beth@themissionwear.org or (303) 808-7538.
 

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