Tackling Textile Waste with Jessica Schrieber, Founder and CEO of FABSCRAP
In this episode, Matt sat down with Jessica Schrieber, the founder and CEO of FABSCRAP. Together, they explore the challenges of running a nonprofit, the importance of embracing failure, and how to use volunteers.
Jessica Schrieber is the founder and CEO of FABSCRAP, which recycles textile waste from commercial businesses in the fashion industry. Previously, she served as an advisor for Closed Loop Partners (2019).
FABSCAP’s Innovative Approach
ABSCRAP is a pioneering organization that tackles the issue of textile waste in the fashion industry head-on. They provide a unique service by collecting, sorting, and recycling textile waste from fashion brands, retailers, and manufacturers.
Since its inception in 2016, the organization has diverted over 600,000 pounds of textile waste from landfills, resulting in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by over 2 million pounds, equivalent to the energy used by 200 homes in a year.
FABSCRAP also has an innovative approach to working with volunteers. Jessica says that while most nonprofits sign up volunteers who work more formally with regular shifts predetermined on a schedule, FABSCRAP is different. Instead, their volunteer program is open to the public, where people can sign up online. Volunteers do a three-hour shift, helping FABSCRAP to sort through the material. Then, as a thank you, they are allowed to take home fabric for free.
“We've had people who just make volunteering part of their trip to New York. They'll come and volunteer for three hours, get some fabric, and see more of Brooklyn and outside of the city. And so it's nice that so many different people can get involved for as long or as little as they want to.”
Succeeding in Failure
Failure is a natural part of running any organization. However, the mark of a great organization is how it responds to failure. This is especially true of nonprofits, which often face lower investments and more limited resources.
Jessica says that even if a program has taken a lot of time to set up, FABSCRAP is comfortable shelving it if it is not performing as the team envisioned. She calls this approach “failing fast."
“If something's not working, even though sometimes it takes a lot of time to set up a program, if, after several months or a year, that program isn't performing for us the way that it did when it launched, we don't need to keep doing that program.”
For instance, during the COVID-19 lockdowns, they launched digital workshops where someone from the FABSCRAP community would teach a skill to others over Zoom, and people could order fabric for it and work alongside them. However, Jessica says that once the lockdowns lifted and people started returning to work and seeing each other in person, this didn’t translate to people coming to the warehouse to learn sewing, so the program was stopped.
Flexibility is the key here. Too many nonprofits are wedded to old ideas and old preoccupations. If an approach, program, or initiative is not working, Jessica is clear that they are draining resources and distracting from the problem you are trying to fix. If this is the case, then get rid of them, and fast!
Allocating Resources
It’s a fact of life that a nonprofit organization will never be as monetarily successful as a for-profit organization. Investors are limited, so budgets are stretched. This means that nonprofits must stay resourceful and plan well.
“You almost have to be extra resourceful already. As a nonprofit, I feel like everybody's coming at it from the most conservative budget that you can. But you have to be extra resourceful with everything: with the time, with the staff, with the planning.”
With every system that FABSCRAP builds, they attempt to develop beyond current needs. For instance, the online platform, where we accept service requests and sign on new partners, was built with the future in mind. It involved Jessica thinking, “Well, what happens when we add another city? What if we open in LA, and what would that look like? And how do we separate service requests?” Jessica says that the only thing you can do when your nonprofit is not investor-funded is to plan for growth much further in advance.
Get the Full Scoop!
Listen to this episode of the Nonprofit Connect podcast to learn more from Jessica about the challenges and opportunities involved with running a nonprofit.