{"id":449,"date":"2021-05-27T14:11:43","date_gmt":"2021-05-27T18:11:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazine.alumni.ncsu.edu\/?p=449"},"modified":"2024-02-01T15:39:22","modified_gmt":"2024-02-01T20:39:22","slug":"treasure-from-trash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/2021\/treasure-from-trash\/","title":{"rendered":"Treasure from Trash"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">By Ramona Dubose<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"is-style-lead\">Emily Neville \u201919 majored in political science and minored in French. But she\u2019s rocking the design and textile worlds with Reborn, her company that turns old clothes and scraps into fashionable keepsakes. \u201cEverybody\u2019s got things piled up in their closet that they aren\u2019t going to wear anymore,\u201d she says. \u201cThose things don\u2019t need to wind up in the landfill.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Originally, Neville thought she would make a hobby of turning old T-shirts into blankets, pillowcases or other mementos. (She made pillowcases out of her high school T-shirts, for instance.) In her sophomore year at NC&#160;State, she decided to make Reborn her career. Today the company has 15 employees\u2009\u2014\u2009five full-time and 10 part-time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<aside class=\"wp-block-ncst-aside-widget default right-aside\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-ncst-pullquote has-aqua-400-text-color has-quotes\"><div class=\"pullquote-container\"><p class=\"pullquote-content\">Everybody\u2019s got things piled up in their closet that they aren\u2019t going to wear anymore. Those things don\u2019t need to wind up in the landfill.<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n<\/aside>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s not been a day in the last three years when I haven\u2019t woken up excited to build my business,\u201d she says. Reborn Clothing Co., based in Raleigh, makes products from outdated or excess textiles that would otherwise be trashed. Much of what the company makes are licensed products for universities\u2009\u2014\u2009blankets, pom keychains, duffel bags, laptop sleeves, koozies and teddy bears, to name a few. Most of the products are sold in campus bookstores. A year ago, the company had products for three universities in North Carolina (including NC&#160;State). Today, Reborn has licensing agreements with more than 70 universities. She has also teamed up with Sunbrella Fabrics to use excess material to make items like beach totes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She\u2019s raised more than $500,000 in financial backing, including $80,000 from the Wolfpack Investor Network. And Reborn still makes custom products out of old garments from the back of someone\u2019s closet. One of Neville\u2019s favorite projects during the COVID-19 quarantine was a baby blanket made for a young family from clothes their child had outgrown, including the outfit the baby wore home from the hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-ncst-button\"><a href=\"rebornclothing.co\" class=\"btn ncst-component__button-link\" data-ncst-lightbox=\"false\" data-ua-cat=\"Button Block\" data-ua-action=\"Button Click\" data-ua-label=\"rebornclothing.co\"><span class=\"ncst-component__button-container\">Visit Reborn Clothing <span class=\"nowrap\">Co.\u00a0<span class=\"arrow-indicator\"> <svg class=\"wolficon\" role=\"img\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><use xlink:href=\"#wolficon-arrow-right-bold\" \/><\/svg> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false,"raw":"<!-- wp:ncst\/dynamic-header -->\n<!-- wp:ncst\/default-immersive-post-header \/-->\n<!-- \/wp:ncst\/dynamic-header -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":4} -->\n<h4>By Ramona Dubose<\/h4>\n<!-- \/wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph {\"className\":\"is-style-lead\"} -->\n<p class=\"is-style-lead\">Emily Neville \u201919 majored in political science and minored in French. But she\u2019s rocking the design and textile worlds with Reborn, her company that turns old clothes and scraps into fashionable keepsakes. \u201cEverybody\u2019s got things piled up in their closet that they aren\u2019t going to wear anymore,\u201d she says. \u201cThose things don\u2019t need to wind up in the landfill.\u201d<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Originally, Neville thought she would make a hobby of turning old T-shirts into blankets, pillowcases or other mementos. (She made pillowcases out of her high school T-shirts, for instance.) In her sophomore year at NC State, she decided to make Reborn her career. Today the company has 15 employees\u2009\u2014\u2009five full-time and 10 part-time.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:ncst\/aside-widget -->\n<aside class=\"wp-block-ncst-aside-widget default right-aside\"><!-- wp:ncst\/pullquote {\"value\":\"\u201cEverybody\u2019s got things piled up in their closet that they aren\u2019t going to wear anymore. Those things don\u2019t need to wind up in the landfill.\u201d\",\"textColor\":\"aqua_400\"} -->\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-ncst-pullquote has-aqua-400-text-color has-quotes\"><div class=\"pullquote-container\"><p class=\"pullquote-content\">Everybody\u2019s got things piled up in their closet that they aren\u2019t going to wear anymore. Those things don\u2019t need to wind up in the landfill.<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n<!-- \/wp:ncst\/pullquote --><\/aside>\n<!-- \/wp:ncst\/aside-widget -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s not been a day in the last three years when I haven\u2019t woken up excited to build my business,\u201d she says. Reborn Clothing Co., based in Raleigh, makes products from outdated or excess textiles that would otherwise be trashed. Much of what the company makes are licensed products for universities\u2009\u2014\u2009blankets, pom keychains, duffel bags, laptop sleeves, koozies and teddy bears, to name a few. Most of the products are sold in campus bookstores. A year ago, the company had products for three universities in North Carolina (including NC State). Today, Reborn has licensing agreements with more than 70 universities. She has also teamed up with Sunbrella Fabrics to use excess material to make items like beach totes.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>She\u2019s raised more than $500,000 in financial backing, including $80,000 from the Wolfpack Investor Network. And Reborn still makes custom products out of old garments from the back of someone\u2019s closet. One of Neville\u2019s favorite projects during the COVID-19 quarantine was a baby blanket made for a young family from clothes their child had outgrown, including the outfit the baby wore home from the hospital.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:ncst\/button {\"text\":\"Visit Reborn Clothing Co.\"} -->\n<div class=\"wp-block-ncst-button\"><a href=\"rebornclothing.co\" class=\"btn ncst-component__button-link\" data-ncst-lightbox=\"false\" data-ua-cat=\"Button Block\" data-ua-action=\"Button Click\" data-ua-label=\"rebornclothing.co\"><span class=\"ncst-component__button-container\">Visit Reborn Clothing <span class=\"nowrap\">Co.\u00a0<span class=\"arrow-indicator\"> <svg class=\"wolficon\" role=\"img\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><use xlink:href=\"#wolficon-arrow-right-bold\" \/><\/svg> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<!-- \/wp:ncst\/button -->"},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Emily Neville \u201919 keeps old clothes out of the landfill by turning them into stylish, useful products for others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":456,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"views\/single-immersive.blade.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"source":"","ncst_custom_author":"","ncst_show_custom_author":false,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"ncst\/default-immersive-post-header","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"{\"showAuthor\":false,\"showDate\":false,\"showFeaturedVideo\":false,\"backgroundColor\":\"reynolds_400\",\"subtitle\":\"Emily Neville \u201919 keeps old clothes out of the landfill by turning them into stylish, useful products for others.\",\"caption\":\"\",\"displayCategoryID\":5}","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,9],"tags":[274,403,974,982],"_ncst_magazine_issue":[],"class_list":["post-449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-class-act","category-stories","tag-college-of-humanities-and-social-sciences","tag-emily-neville","tag-ramona-dubose","tag-reborn-clothing-co"],"displayCategory":{"term_id":5,"name":"Best Bets","slug":"best-bets","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":5,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":52,"filter":"raw"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=449"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5067,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449\/revisions\/5067"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449"},{"taxonomy":"_ncst_magazine_issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_ncst_magazine_issue?post=449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}