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111Threads – Building a Sustainable Upcycling Business
Acadia Herbst, 24, sustains herself by upcycling thrifted textiles and clothes. In six years, she has not only learned how to sew, but also built a sustainable business.
“I was in college experimenting with my style when I began to thrift and upcycle. This was in 2018. It started with buying jeans, cutting them into squares, and painting my art onto them. I would hand sew my little patches onto thrifted t-shirts to create my new shirt that expressed ME, and was what I wanted to wear. It was fun and allowed me to feel different. Eventually, I had a few friends ask for their own shirts so I made a few and decided to make an Instagram account for my shirts.
I pride myself on the fact that I’ve hardly ever deleted anything from my page. So you can still scroll all the way down to the start of my page and see its evolution. I secretly hope people do that, just to see how far it’s come and I’m hopeful that it can serve as an inspiration. I’ve experimented so much with what I make and even my style and I feel like many of my followers know that.
Sewing was definitely something I was doing just for me first, making clothes – not a business. The sewing part of it just naturally progressed with my passion. Like I mentioned, I was hand sewing patches, and one Christmas I was lucky enough my parents fixed up an old sewing machine for me. From there, my interest peaked into making garments as opposed to just stitching something new on them. It’s all been a very natural progression and it kind of just snowballed into a business that has 100% turned my life upside down in the best way.
To make a business profitable, you need to have passion and grit. Sewing is hard, and sewing unconventional fabrics is even harder. I do have a business degree that I ended up deciding I wanted as my shop progressed and ignited something in me. In many of my entrepreneur classes, I was challenged by my professors and classmates about scaling and how to do so. It’s always been a question in my mind – what’s next and how to grow even bigger? I don’t have a definitive answer for it.
I got to where I am through natural progression and I’d prefer to take that route till the end. I have also been doing professional alterations and clothing repair on the side and to me sewing is a skill that will always be needed and seamstress / tailors are kind of a dying art. I always look to my sewing skills in general as a great plan b, maybe open an alteration shop someday, where I can do that but also still sell my reworks.
I am 100% self employed from upcycling and sewing so I really just have to make sure I know my worth and charge what I feel is right for the material, time, and uniqueness of the piece.
I like to draw from the inspiration around me. Whenever I feel like making a new piece I love to go walk around the local universities, streets, even when I’m out on the weekends in my favorite bars I’m always looking around. I love to see what styles are coming in and out, colors, patterns, etc.
Anything quilted sells best, I’ve learned. I think that’s just been a trend of the summer, and next year I’ll have a new bestseller. But that’s what I love the most, I like to make new pieces all of the time, not be tied down to one design or being known for one thing.
I sell my designs online and at markets. At markets you make a lot fast, sell a lot in one day, but you might have to cut your value (I do sometimes) like not everyone is going to be willing to buy a $200 jacket from a random person they met that day. When you go to a market, people don’t know you and your story, and might not see your value.
Online, things might sit for a while and it could be a slower way to make cash unless (in my case) you have a super viral video popping off. But online people go to YOUR store, for YOU. They know YOU, want YOU. And will pay without blinking an eye. I can also offer after pay payment installments on my items too.
But I’ve always enjoyed selling more at markets. Such a great business tool in my opinion. You get to meet all kinds of people, test products, get feedback on stuff, see directly into your target market, there’s just tons of room for experimenting with your shop. And it’s always such a great networking event.
The live sewing makes me giggle. I love to do it in such crazy outlandish places. It’s truly been such an amazing experience every time. It sparked so much interest, and I love when people are curious and come up to talk to me!! It’s something I look forward to most. I’ve been live sewing in Zion, Grand Tetons, and random places through Utah and California. I always travel with my machine! Let’s just say desert, ocean, and mountains is where you can expect the next live sewing videos.
The internet is an amazing place – in the early days I spent countless hours on Youtube and Instagram trying to find other people like me. However, someone who really inspired me I met almost 3 years after starting my shop. His name and brand is Shane Kastl. He was my first IRL sewing friend, and his pieces are so incredibly detailed, every time we chat, I’m inspired. When I lived in Jersey I would pack up my machine and we would have sewing days in his basement and just work for hours next to each other and chat about everything. We still facetime a lot to share our newest projects or goals. He always inspires me to keep going.
I think when someone thinks about starting a business it seems so intimidating, like you need x amount of items and x amount of money to start. While that may be true if you want to start some extensive business, I think there’s always a way to start small. For me I started with maybe $15? Fabric paint, brushes, thrifted jeans, and a hand sewing kit. From there I worked slowly, put all the money I made back into my business for a few years and now I have industrial level machines, every tool imaginable, and a whole studio.
My biggest advice always is to just start, because you have to at some point. If it’s truly what you want to do then, taking the time to upgrade and level your business up should come easy. And 7 years in, that’s still the mentality I have. Always working and growing towards something bigger and better. It’s a bit of a mind game / mental strength challenge I suppose. How bad do you want it?
My shop is my absolute baby, without it I have no idea what I’d be doing, who I would be, or where I’d be. I’m so grateful that this is what I get to do everyday and it’s also enabled me to live out so many other dreams. My message to everyone always is to just get out there and start doing whatever it is you want to do. It’s your life and you should spend it by doing something you love. Always believe in yourself because you never know what can happen next, take it from me.”
white shoulder bag