Cascade Alliance

One Good Thing: Fleeing the Cold & Snow of NY, Finger Lakes ReUse Visits Cascade Alliance in OR

OK, so this is really a bunch of good things: We welcomed Finger Lakes Reuse staffers Jess and Ron who fled the cold and snow of Ithaca NY and caught a rare sunny week in Eugene for embedded learning and brainstorming.

They got started with an intensive session on pricing with Tyree (both speedy and fun) in our Division store. They also got a crash course from Dana and Jody on clothing sorting at the Seneca warehouse, where it’s the norm for staff to find and hang 500 pieces of sellable clothing each day. Ron and Jess were quick studies and inspired to generate their own ideas for incorporating our strategies.

Upcycling has become an increasing trend and our resident designer, Mitra deMirza, from ENVIA Fashion, lead a session on upcycling  T-shirts into art, bags, and crop tops.  She also demonstrated making leather cuffs out of old belts and turning jeans into cutoffs.  An important takeaway from this meetup was learning about how time studies can help to determine pricing for handmade items.

The week ended with our members learning how to price shoes, shelve books and review layouts at some of our small and large stores. We had a great time showing the ropes of our thrift operations with the folks from FLR and we’re excited that our network is able to spark new ideas for our members.

Below: Ron and Jess with Mitra as they upcycle t-shirts, revamp old jeans, and repurpose leather.