From a hospital bed in Swindon to a growing community of empowered women crafting sustainable homeware, Remnant Revolution is more than a business, it’s a movement. Founded by Pinky in 2023, the initiative began as a heartfelt response to two major issues: textile waste and the lack of creative community spaces for women, particularly those from multicultural backgrounds. Combining environmental action with social empowerment, Remnant Revolution gives new life to discarded fabrics while fostering connection, confidence, and opportunity through the art of sewing.
Pinky, can you share the inspiring story behind how Remnant Revolution came to life?
Remnant Revolution began it’s journey from a hospital bed in mid-2023, while I was recovering from some not so fun abdominal surgery in The Great Western Hospital, Swindon. Talking to the women in my ward, I learnt that there were many women who had sewing skills but no active community to embrace and support them. Having previously run a fashion business, I was already aware of the waste generated during my production. I wanted to create a business tackling both of these issues. I was inspired to try and build a community for these talented seamstresses whilst also combating fabric waste. I wrote the business plan on the back of a piece of paper from my hospital bed and when I recovered, I set to work researching the homeware market and took a sustainability course.
How does Remnant Revolution empower women from multicultural backgrounds through sustainable craft and training?
Inclusion, diversity and the empowerment of women are integral to Remnant Revolution. When I first looked for a sewing team, I advertised in local newspapers, through local FB groups and in craft shops. A friend who had worked for the Red Cross, noticed an Afghan lady's post on a notice board at our local army base where they had been housed, asking for a sewing machine. She introduced us in Dari and that is how I had the privilege to work with many wonderful Afghan women who sadly had to leave their home country.
As a group, the trust between us grew, and each woman shared her own amazing story of adversity. We are all mothers and besides our shared love of crafting and sewing, we share our journeys, stories and aspirations. Once the first pieces were made, it transpired that it was the first time in the UK that they had been paid for their time and skills. They were unsure whether to accept it. I explained to their husbands that the money was for the women, and they promptly put the money in their bras! The men all laughed and were so happy for them.
Can you explain how Remnant Revolution’s mission tackles textile waste by rescuing factory surplus fabrics that would otherwise go to landfill?
Each year, there is over 1.2million tonnes of textile waste that heads for landfill in the UK alone. This is an increasing problem both locally and globally. Fabric warehouses in the UK are bursting at the seams with unlabelled, unwanted fabrics and so we can offer a solution to their problem by repurposing it. More recently we have been working with interior designers and fabric houses to work with their off cuts, remnants and seconds and often we are generously gifted their remnant fabrics. On average, between 7-10% of each bolt of fabric produced is defected in some way; a weave error or print issue and it is these remnants that are perfect for creating anything from Hosting Aprons to small bags.
What local charities does Remnant Revolution support, and how does charitable giving weave into your business model?
We give back a percentage of each sale to the brilliant and important DIRT Charity run by Arizona Muse which is focused on soil health and sustainability, working globally to turn fashion and textiles into a climate solution. We begin a collaboration with the Women’s Refuge in Stroud from September. We will donate 50% of the profits of 5 new pieces from our collection to support the work the refuge does for women suffering from domestic violence.
How do you transform luxury discarded fabrics into unique, handcrafted homeware products at Remnant Revolution?
We carefully source beautiful linens and cottons and we have also been generously gifted fabric to work with. We look at the fabric and decide what it could be best used for and create accordingly. We are building an archive of patterns so that when we find certain weight linens, we have a good idea of what to transform them into. We are constantly testing fabrics and products to make them unique and desirable.
Could you walk us through your sewing workshops, how women learn and build community at Remnant Revolution?
Our sewing workshops are how we build and nurture our local community. All women of all ages and backgrounds are welcome to join our fortnightly local workshops where we share skills, stories and our love of fabrics and for craftsmanship. We teach everything from the basics of how to use a sewing machine to making more complex pieces, of which they take home what they have made.
The classes cost £6 to join and we also have a PAYC (pay as you can) ethos so there is no price barrier to attending our community building classes as we believe price should not be a barrier to learn or be part of a community. We love the supportive, inclusive community we are ever building and we have met so many inspiring women already. Wonderful things happen when we sew together as a group of diverse women.
We couldn’t do it without the teachers who generously give their time to share their knowledge and skills, donated sewing machines and beautiful remnant fabrics we receive from fabric houses and interior designers who have unwanted fabrics, of which we offer a solution for. We have a separate core team of Crafters who are paid for making our products and sew beautifully. You can read about them on our website.
Remnant Revolution celebrates cultural diversity and inclusion while bringing together women from varied backgrounds. Please tell us more.
Our core ethos and guiding principle is about inclusion and celebrating diversity. We welcome all women to join our mission for positive societal change. Our shared skill set of sewing and crafting is universal and language is rarely a barrier. We use Google translate for more intricate details.
We have worked with women from Afghanistan, Brazil, Ukraine and English women in the last year since we began trading. With our sewing classes and collaborations, we will increase our diversity.
What are your future plans to expand Remnant Revolution across the UK and beyond, and how can supporters contribute?
Currently we are heavily focused on product development, to offer a wider selection of products to our customers. We currently stock on a number of well-known homeware platforms and are looking to increase our partnerships, and embrace new collaborations with aligned brands.
Once we have developed an effective model in Cirencester, my local town, we will look for funding to amplify the mission in other towns across the country. We currently offer our Sew with Us classes at the Old Department Store, part of the Grace Network in Cirencester and Stroud, which holds a number of incredible social enterprises with aligned values. We would love to grow with them as they expand themselves.
At a local level, our classes provide an opportunity for women to join our mission and venture. Regionally, we develop collaborative relationships with fabric houses who have generously donated beautiful remnants and who have provided a physical space for us to introduce our products to new audiences.
We would love to partner with more fabric houses and work with them to repurpose more unwanted, remnant fabrics to use in our sewing classes and to sell, with a percentage of profits going to our chosen charities.
We are so thrilled to be working with Mash + Mint. Brilliant platforms like this offer us a stage from which to share our story and products, and really support the work we do.
How do you educate customers about slow fashion and the value of handmade, sustainable pieces versus fast furniture trends?
We are very aware of the need to communicate what we do and why we do it. There is still so much work needed to champion sustainability through the provenance of products but also the people who create them.
We speak to our audience regularly via newsletters and on our social platforms about our work with the individual women, their diverse backgrounds, their beautiful sewing skills and the materials we select.
In short, we educate through our journey and those who drive it. We talk about the craftsmanship, skills and processes involved in creating each piece, which reinforces the value of each product. Sewing is meaningful skill and to make something well takes time and care. From a consumer perspective, knowing who made your product and its provenance, enhances its intrinsic value and its emotional response.
We have been so lucky to have great press so far and were nominated for an Empowering Women Initiative Award at the Drapers Conscious Summit awards (we were up against Superdry, SeaSalt Cornwall, and ACS clothing).
What collaboration opportunities are you seeking with businesses like ours and how can we best support the Remnant Revolution movement?
It is both a great honour and a wonderful opportunity to be approached to partner with established brands like Mash + Mint. Aligned brand partners allow us to reach a wider audience with our mission to work and empower more women and save more fabric. By growing our network of customers and suppliers through Mash + Mint, we could develop new partnerships, new opportunities and new markets. We are so excited to work with you!
Favourite Remnant Revolution pieces?
I absolutely love our Full Frill Hosting Aprons as there is nothing like it on the market and our peg bags with vintage wooden repurposed coat hangers are proving an unexpected hit. All our crafters have loved making our baby range, using green and white check seconds fabric from Lewis & Wood. We all have children, and we think the baby bags and quilts are so sweet.
As Remnant Revolution continues to grow partnering with charities, hosting inclusive sewing workshops, and expanding across the UK, it stands as a beautiful example of what happens when creativity, compassion, and purpose come together. With every stitch, Remnant Revolution is not only reducing waste but weaving stronger communities. We’re incredibly proud to support this powerful movement at Mash + Mint and we can’t wait to see where their fabric-first revolution leads next.
