Michael and Emily Felix operate Reunion Yarn from their Highland Park home, where they are photographed on Thursday, Feb. 4, 2016, in Chattanooga, Tenn. A textile primer
– The average sweater yields about 2 miles of continuous yarn. – About 21 billion pounds of textiles end up in U.S. landfills each year. – Only 3.8 billion pounds of textiles get recycled each year, but much of it gets shredded and eventually can’t be reused. Source: Reunion Yarn and Council for Textile Recycling
Most of the time, the process starts with a sweater chosen for its color or texture or maybe both. The yarn unravels with a tool that’s one of a kind. Then the fibers get washed and pulled taught before they’re wound tight, often around other yarn that’s gone through all those steps, too.
Ultimately, the skein will end up in someone’s hands, and they’ll be able to trace its origin. Reunion Yarn isn’t the only business giving old yarn new life, but it might be the first doing so with a prototype that makes the process efficient and uses very little water and electricity.
“The idea, the goal, is to change the textile industry,” said Emily Felix, 29, who co-founded the Chattanooga-based startup with her husband, Mike, 32, who grew up in Alabama. The duo moved to the Scenic City last year and graduated from The Company Lab’s accelerator program in January.
So far, the company has about one to two dozen monthly subscribers, who get regular deliveries of yarn, the couple said. The company also makes rounds at fiber shows and other events, including Stitches South in Nashville next month. The duo realized there was demand for their yarn when they sold about 80 of 100 skeins at an Atlanta craft show early last year, they said.