Complete Rejection - NOT!

Here are some ways to make use of damaged or incorrectly sewn garments.

If you are an Embroiderer, one thing you can count on is that eventually you will end up with damaged or incorrectly sewn garments on an order. Of course, you will have to replace these “rejects” - resulting in an unwanted collection of reminders of a job gone badly.

So what should you do with these souvenirs of lost profits? It’s quite tempting to discard them in disgust, but that would just increase your revenue loss further. Instead, make an attempt to find a new life for your rejects. Even ones with physical damage can be recycled with a little bit of ingenuity on your part. To help you better manage your rejects, we will discuss ways to make use of them.

Recycle your rejects as staff uniforms. In the case of an incorrect logo or color selection, you may be able to remove the thread and sew your logo in its place. Even if there is a hole, you can just add fusible backing on the backside of the fabric and water-soluble topping on the front, and then sew right over the hole. If you don’t wish to remove the old logo, you may be able to sew right over it, especially if your logo has a filled background. Another alternative is to create a patch with your logo and sew the patch over the old logo (or hole). Now you can give your employees (or yourself) some freebies, that if done correctly, may look professional enough that they can even be worn in public, thereby providing additional exposure for your company.

Damaged goods can many times be repaired and used for display items on mannequins or the wall. The beauty of using them on the walls is that you may be able to creatively display them such that any flaws can be hidden from view. For example, if you accidentally sewed together the front and back of a shirt (by not paying attention while installing the hoop on the machine!), removing the thread frees up the two sections, but it also leaves exposed needle tracks on the front and back of the shirt. Certainly you can sew your logo on the front and hide those needle holes, but not on the back. Thus, you can’t wear the shirt in public. Using the shirt in a wall display allows you to hide the damaged backside from view, especially if it’s higher up, where no one can reach it.

If you choose to use it on a mannequin, consider combining the shirt with a jacket, so that the jacket hides the damaged portion of the garment from view. However, be aware that if a customer asks to remove the jacket so they can inspect it closer, the damaged shirt underneath will now be viewable. Of course, if there is no physical damage to a rejected garment, simply add a new logo and display it wherever is convenient in your shop.

Sample kits are another useful destination for recycled rejects. However, since these items will be subjected to close scrutiny on a regular basis, make sure there are no flaws. It’s also important that you remove the original logo if it was sewn incorrectly, or the quality of the stitching was questionable. It is a bad idea to display a customer’s logo to others that was anything less than perfect. (And for that matter, always ask a customer if it is permissible to use his logo in your portfolio and/or sample kit.) Bottom-line, you must develop a sample kit and you must purchase garments to go into it. If you can recycle rejects rather than purchase new items, you save money, as you will recoup the cost of the unacceptable garments.

You can donate some of your rejects to the needy. But treat these organizations with respect and don’t deliver damaged goods. Instead only offer items that are in excellent condition. Also, never donate goods with someone’s logo embroidered on them. No disrespect to those unfortunate souls who are down on their luck and in need of assistance to get back on their feet. But the fact remains that some of them may be found in questionable situations, such that a logo’d garment could end up bringing negative exposure to the owner of that logo. Even worse, since the garment is a “reject” there is probably something wrong with the logo to begin with, which could add yet another level of anxiety for the customer to whom the logo belongs. So, with this in mind, anything you donate to charity should have generic designs on them. Remove the existing logo and sew over the space with something interesting, appealing, creative and generic so that the recipient of your donation gets a brand-new, usable garment that won’t get you into trouble. One other thing, charitable donations are tax-deductible, so be sure to get a receipt! If a rejected item is too damaged to repair or simply not worth your time to recycle as a wearable item, then use it as test material for sew-outs. (Most Embroiderers have their fair share of test materials stored in a box on the corner of a shop.) When you sew-out a customer’s logo for the first time, it is imperative that you do so on the same type of material as the garments that it will be stitched on. This allows you to see how the fabric will affect the quality of the sewing. Based on the sew-out you can make adjustments to the process, such as changing the type of backing, adding a topping, selecting a different needle or even editing the design. In addition, when getting your customer’s approval on the logo, you need to show it to him on the same material as the final garment, so that he gets a realistic representation of what the design is actually going to look like. If you were to offer him a sew-out on felt, for a job that was going on pique mesh, he will likely be disappointed (an understatement) with the order when you deliver it. So, keep those damaged goods and use them as needed. They might just prevent future rejects. Use them as reminders to your workers about what NOT to do. If you have employees and you have rejected garments, chances are there is a link between the two – poor training. Since most embroidery screw-ups are the result of operator error, it is useful to save specific examples of what can go wrong with a job and use them for training aids. Of course, storage of such items can be cumbersome, so take pictures and create a training manual that has images along with detailed instructions about what went wrong and how to prevent it in the future. Instead of recycling the unacceptable items, you can use them as reminders to your workers about what NOT to do. Hanging damaged goods in prominent places will provide constant feedback to the staff that they need to pay close attention to everything they do. For example, a shirt that was hooped crooked could be mounted on the wall behind your hooping station as a reminder to verify that each garment is hooped properly. A cap with the wrong thread colors could be mounted on top of a control panel as a message to double-check the thread color sequence that was loaded into the machine. Take it another step and add a placard with each garment that states what went wrong and how much it cost. The idea is not to demean your staff or surround them with negative messages; rather you are providing visual reminders that everything they do has an impact on the operation of the business. A word of caution: If customers routinely tour your production area, be sure that such reminders disappear during their visit. Sometimes, the damage is such that you can’t find a reasonable way to recycle the item. Or in the case of rejects used for test sewing materials, you run out of space to sew. The logical assumption is that there is no further use for it, so the reject should be delivered to the circular file for disposal. But wait! There are still some practical uses for even the most worthless reject. Cleaning rags are at the top of the last resort uses. Your machine(s) require frequent cleaning to remove excess oil, dust and lint, so you have an ongoing need for cleaning rags. Of course, some fabrics, such as 100% cotton knits, are better than others, but I’ll bet you have (or will soon have) an assortment of rejects that can be used for this purpose. Once you identify potential cleaning rags, get out the scissors and remove any physical appendages such as buttons and zippers, as they can catch on the machine components and possibly cause damage to fragile parts. In addition, they can scratch the paint. You might also want to remove collars, heavy seams, sleeves, etc so that you are left with a reasonable shape and size for your cleaning rags. If you have plenty of cleaning rags, then try stuffing pillowcases with the rejects and create weapons for pillow fights. If you have kids, you can get them out of your hair (and your shop) by sending them outside to take advantage of your new-found recreational items. If you have employees, they can work-out their frustrations on each other during a lunch break. If you have problem employees, you can work out your frustrations by beating them with their rejects… Okay, so maybe your lawyer has advised you that beating your employees with pillows created with their rejects is a bad idea. I have one last suggestion on how to make positive use of your rejected garments. Create the world’s largest ball of rags and enter it into the Guinness Book of World Records. Just go to www.guinnessrecords.com for details on how to enter. Who knows, maybe your rejects bring you fame and fortune through such publicity, thereby turning lost revenue into a profit motive. But considering how many rejects you would need to create such a record, perhaps it would be more cost effective to forget the Guinness Book and focus on reducing your reject rate to zero. Besides, it doesn’t make for positive publicity when your customers figure out that you set a record based on your reject rate!

By: James M. (Jimmy) Lamb
Published: June 2007