Upcycling Materials for a Sustainable Future

Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Jenny Silbert, Co-Founder of Rewilder, located in Los Angeles, CA, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

I'm Jenny, co-founder and master scavenger at Rewilder. Rewilder is a woman-owned sustainable design company on a mission to find wealth in waste. We work with companies to keep materials out of landfill, using good design to make long-lasting new things. We work with large companies to upcycle from their waste stream and also source and find our own design materials. Our core line includes the Comeback Tee, which is the most planet-positive blank t-shirt ever made (100% upcycled from post-consumer textile waste), and our Airbag Backpack, made from high-performance automotive waste - airbags and seatbelts. All of our work prioritizes zero waste and great design. We believe that design and sustainability go hand-in-hand. When we rehabilitate and recirculate materials, we add value. This is Rewilder - the beauty of upcycling and a new perspective on trash.

Tell us about yourself

My background is in architecture - I have a MA from Yale, and my previous career was in technology and material problem-solving. Since I was a kid, I've always had a passion for dumpster diving. Almost every school project I did start in the garbage with old pizza boxes. To my own kid's dismay, I make them do the same. I was teaching a Materials Innovation class at Art Center in Pasadena, researching post-industrial materials, when I found a filter cloth from Miller Coors that's thrown away at the massive scale of 2 tons every 3 days. This was my first understanding of the scale of industrial waste, and Rewilder was started around this single material. It was the exact opposite of everything I'd done previously - design first and then find materials. From the filter cloth, we changed everything about how a design company that prioritizes sustainability and upcycling should work - finding waste materials first and then designing around them. At Rewilder, materials come first.

I'm motivated by nature and am an avid surfer and backpacker. I love the ocean. I love the trees. This starts for me here at home in Los Angeles. At Rewilder, with my partners Stephanie Choi and Lisa Siedlecki, we are motivated to create a community of people that care about the planet and each other and understand that we need to use resources/materials that have already been made. It seems so simple to us conceptually, though the process of working with trash and re-design is often a huge challenge.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

We are part of the Los Angeles Clean Tech Incubator (LACI). Over the past year, we've piloted and developed the Comeback Tee - the most planet-positive tee ever made. We are really proud of this design work, proving that it's possible to divert materials like old t-shirts from landfill, reintroduce them into the circular economy, and create value while doing it. We measure our success by the amount of material we can divert from landfill. We always strive for the most sustainable path - not the one that is the most convenient or easy. Our ultimate goal is to use design to elevate rather than eliminate materials.

What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?

As a business owner in the upcycling industry, we have a lot of unusual challenges. Upcycling is turning waste into valuable products, which means finding and collecting materials that most people consider worthless. It's difficult and time-consuming detective work. Another big challenge for us is pricing. Our work requires a significant amount of human labor for this transformation magic. Because we make everything in LA and pay fairly, it's incredibly difficult to compete with other products that are mass-produced using cheap labor. It's heartbreaking sometimes to do this work, and essential that we educate ourselves and our clients on the value of what we do - environmental and social - to justify the higher monetary cost (worth the great environmental and social benefits!).

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

The best part of being a founder is breaking new ground and solving big problems in new and exciting ways. Plus, the relationships you build with other founders and creative thinkers. This is my best piece of advice: find your support network! It's amazing to be able to connect with other founders, especially women founders, over our shared struggles and processes. Second, figure out the best practices and systems that you can use from the beginning. Use task management software and bank management software, and write everything down (even if it's just a google doc). The processes that you develop at the beginning will make your life much easier down the road.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.rewilder.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UpcyclingIsBetterThanRecycling
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rewildergoods/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rewilder/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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