MILWAUKEE — A Milwaukee fashion company is trying to prove that making environmentally friendly clothes is profitable and possible.
EcoEvie is a clothing company that makes all of its shirts from recycled water bottles. A portion of every sale is donated to help save endangered animals. Sustainability is at the core of the company.
“And we’ve recycled 26,000 water bottles into the clothing that we’ve sold," Kelly Mutsch the owner of EcoEvie said.
EcoEvie was founded in 2019 and inspired by Kelly’s then 9-year-old daughter Evie who is passionate about saving endangered species. Each shirt has a different animal on it. Mutsch does the designing, and Evie approves each one.
“What an opportunity to be able to make things right here in Milwaukee. We’re able to make small batches. We’re not wasting a lot by doing production overseas. And then the logistics of it having it be here is so important also to sustainability," Mutsch said.
Kelly and Evie travel to different events most weekends and set up a booth to sell their clothes.
To make the shirts, plastic bottles are shredded up. Those small pieces of plastic are then melted into pellets. Finally, those pellets are spun and pulled like taffy until they are a yarn-like fiber. It takes about 11 to 16 average-sized water bottles to make one article of clothing.
EcoEvie is part of the 'Coolest Thing Made In Wisconsin' competition. It's designed to promote manufacturing in the state.
According to the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce organization, which runs the competition, manufacturing is a $70 billion business in the state. One in six Wisconsinites works in the industry.
Other contestants include the country's largest beer tap manufacturer, Hankscraft AJS.
While doing things sustainably is more difficult, Mutsch said that it's imperative for the future of our planet. The sooner companies switch their methods, the easier it is.
“As far as making sure our packaging, our labels, every piece that we're sourcing is made in the US, made from sustainable resources. So is it impossible? No. Is it something that is easier to adopt earlier on? Definitely."
You can shop the designs by going to the EcoEvie website.
In addition to the sustainability mission, Mutsch wants to prove to her daughter, who has autism, that anything is possible.
"My goal is to show my daughter that despite her disability, she can do anything that she wants."
Since starting EcoEvie, Evie has given presentations about endangered animals at different schools, and walked in fashion shows.
"I was very nervous as any parent would be putting their child with a disability out in the forefront, in the public eye, and we’ve had nothing but positive experience from this," Mutsch said.
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