Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in social enterprise but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Irina McKenzie, partner and co-founder of FABCYCLE, located in Vancouver, Canada.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
FABCYCLE is a social enterprise based in Vancouver Canada. We work directly with local apparel manufacturers like factories, fashion designers and schools to collect the scraps, off-cuts, deadstock and ends of rolls that are left during the apparel production process and reuse or recycle what they cannot use. Our mission is to divert textile waste from the landfill by finding creative solutions, promoting the sustainable mindset of waste as a resource. We run a Textile Waste ReUSE Centre in Vancouver, B.C. and the purpose of the ReUSE Centre is to provide an open and inclusive physical space for the local creative community to come together and experiment with textile waste. We encourage artists, designers and creative minds of all skill levels, backgrounds, orientations and identities to experiment with scraps and deadstock fabric and come up with innovative and exciting ideas to divert textile waste from the landfill.
Tell us about yourself
I started FABCYCLE back in 2017 but I was already immersed in the sustainable apparel industry as I was also running a local non profit called Frameworq Education Society with a mandate to bring back repair skills and connect people through mending. FABCYCLE started as I identify a gap in the streams of textile waste. Pre consumer textile waste like end of rolls and usable sewing supplies were still discarded in the landfills and I wanted to create a service that can close that gap and capture usable materials so they can be circulate back to makers and these valuable materials do not end up in the landfills.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
I feel one of the biggest accomplishments is to be able to prove that our business model can exists and thrive within our economic systems. Seeing everyday that we change perceptions of what is considered to be textile waste is special and it motivates us to become more creative and connect to more creative community members so we can all prove that #FabricisNOTwaste
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
As a business owner you are on a rollercoaster to balance finances, your mission and values and build your team to have a healthy and thriving environment. It's a journey of personal growth and every day is an opportunity to learn and grow with others.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
Never stop learning.
Invest in your people - there's nothing without your people.
Continue to invest in yourself - you are your biggest asset.
Anything else you'd like to share?
Watch a short documentary (7 min) about our Textile Waste ReUSE Centre here:
https://www.fabcycle.shop/blogs/journal/the-fabcycle-short-film-unwanted-roll
Where can people find you and your business?
https://www.instagram.com/fabcyclevan/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/irina-mckenzie/
https://www.facebook.com/fabcyclevan/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
Feel inspired to start, run or grow your own subscription business? Check out subkit.com and learn how you can turn "one day" into day one.
