Deadstock Fabric

Is Using Deadstock Fabric Right for Your Brand?

Deadstock fabric is leftover fabric that comes in a variety of ranges, all the way from natural fabrics like linen, to polyester lace.

Why does Deadstock Exist?

There are several different reasons why deadstock fabric is around: 

Overproduction

This could come from the factory where the manufacturer has produced too much fabric. Or this excess can be from the fashion brand that overestimated their quantities.

Unsold inventory

When fabric sits around unsold for too long, be it from fashion brands or from a fabric retailer, this is considered deadstock fabric.

Test fabric

Fashion brands will test their prints on alternative fabric of lesser quality but similar in weight and structure. For example, a fashion brand wants to test their print out, to make sure the scale is correct and that the colour is working out the way they want. So they will run these tests on a viscose fabric instead of, for example, if they are wanting to have the finished product in a silk. This is to keep their costs down. This keeps the costs down, but it also produces waste, ie deadstock fabric

Errors

Mistakes happen. Could be during the manufacturing process, so it is damaged in some way, or there are imperfections, or the print or colour were incorrect.

Fabric scraps

Leftover fabrics from other brands. Now this is a little bit different than getting a bolt of say 20 metres of deadstock fabric. What I am talking about here is the fabric scraps, which is usually the trimmings when you are cutting out your pattern pieces. Any fabric that is leftover from the making of the clothes. All those little pieces that aren’t going to be part of the garments, and they’re too small to do anything with on a larger scale, unless you piece it together.

You know what would be amazing? If large brands, especially these brands that are claiming sustainability, put together limited edition runs of their scraps. Imagine a fabric scrap blazer from Zara?! Yeah, you heard it here first 😉

Zero Waste Daniel

Beautiful example of scrap fabric inspiration

Where does deadstock come from exactly?

How do you know who the designer was who was originally using this as their test print fabric, and it could be a fabric designer or a fashion brand, but unless their name was along the selvage of the fabric, then chances are, you aren’t going to know where the fabric came from.

Where is deadstock made? 

Which factory? Which country? You will have a small chance of knowing the answer. Unless the name is along the selvage, or the deadstock seller has direct access to the manufacturer, sometimes knowing where the fabric was made can be difficult to trace. Not impossible! But probably difficult.

Is Deadstock Sustainable?

In short, the answer is no, it’s not sustainable. The reason why deadstock is not sustainable is because it’s coming from overproduction. If there is always going to be a need for deadstock fabric, then companies are always going to see a reason to overproduce. This is very cyclical, and it is something for you to consider. And generally the fabric is not sustainable either. If you aren’t able to trace it and know where the fabric is coming from, designers shouldn’t claim they are using “sustainable deadstock.”

What happens to surplus fabric when we aren’t purchasing it as deadstock?

Unfortunately, not good things. The deadstock will either end up stuffed into a warehouse, which is a really sad place for fabric to end up. Or it will be put in a landfill. Or the worst thing that I can imagine, is it will be burned. This is one of the reasons why I believe it is great to use up the deadstock.

So, is deadstock right for your brand?

But if I compartmentalise sustainability and the pros of using deadstock, I would still say using deadstock is better than not. Because the fabric is already made, it is already available, there are so many positives in using it up and giving that fabric an opportunity for a second life.

Where to buy deadstock fabric?

Queen of Raw, as I mention in the video and Fabscrap are two popular suppliers.

SUPPLIER’S LIST

Interested in more deadstock suppliers?