'Regenerating' jeans into green products

Ms. Duong and Ms. Hue co-founded Khue Cac Group Company Limited, launching the handmade fabric bag brand Lovey Quit.

From passion for unique products

With a passion for design, a love of handmade fabrics and inspiration from the beauty of Vietnamese culture, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy Duong and Ms. Nguyen Hue in Tu Ky district have launched Lovey Quilts - a handmade fabric bag brand that aims for environmentally friendly products, solving the problem of excess fabric in the garment industry.

“Old jeans take 60-200 years to decompose, causing environmental pollution. We hope that collecting old jeans to make products will contribute a small part to protecting the environment,” said Ms. Thuy Duong.

Products at Lovey Quilts are mainly made from recycled, environmentally friendly denim. Each “recycled” product is created with the meticulousness and skill of the tailor, going through many processing stages.

By implementing campaigns to exchange old clothes for new bags, the company will collect 3-5 tons of used jeans by 2024. These materials not only help solve the problem of old jeans but also create unique products.

Ms. Duong said that since 2012 and 2013, her initial purpose when entering the handicraft field was to create a difference for her children. After that, relatives and friends around her also felt interested in the products she made. Therefore, after a period of satisfying her own passion, in 2021, Ms. Duong and Ms. Hue established a business to bring these handmade products to consumers.

Each product is limited edition with different sizes and designs.

At Lovey Quilts, Ms. Duong is the one who comes up with ideas and designs the products, while Ms. Hue promotes and connects her brand with customers who share the same passion.

When entering the handicraft industry, the two sisters encountered many difficulties. This is a very specific field, requiring workers to be meticulous, careful, and sometimes persistent, so recruiting personnel who meet the above standards is very difficult.

In addition, customers who use these handmade items are those who love the beauty and uniqueness of each detail on the product.

Help the disadvantaged have jobs

The products are all "personalized", creating uniqueness and distinction.

Because it is a handmade product, many steps must be done by hand, no machines are used, the time to complete a product is long, so the price of each product here will be higher than the price of mass-produced products.

To reach customers of all ages, Lovey Quilts has produced many other items such as handmade accessories, handbags, bedding... with prices ranging from 10,000, 50,000 VND to products of 200,000, 500,000 VND. Some products can even cost up to several million VND depending on the size, material and time to complete the product.

"Here, all products carry the customers' own stories. From old pieces of fabric, discarded jeans or relatives' memorabilia, they are all combined to create a product," said Ms. Hue.

Currently, the factory's workers are all disadvantaged women with difficult lives, with an income of 6-8 million VND/person/month. With 5 workers, the factory can produce 1,000-2,000 products/month or more depending on customer orders.

Products made with environmental protection value

In the coming time, the company will expand its production model with the aim of creating jobs for the disabled and disadvantaged people in social protection units or people with young children, who do not have many job opportunities and do not have time for family and children.

Up to now, products made from "reborn" jeans are not only present in many provinces and cities in the country but also appear in other countries such as the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Japan in the form of informal trade, meaning individuals bring products abroad for display and consumption.

The goal in the next 3 years is for Ms. Thuy Duong and Ms. Nguyen Hue to target their products to the European market but above all, to highlight the Lovey Quilts brand in Vietnam.

THUY DUONG

Source: https://baohaiduong.vn/tai-sinh-vai-jean-thanh-san-pham-xanh-409574.html