Can We Afford "Throwaway" Dance Costumes Anymore?

Satin Stitches | Feb 05, 2008 | 2

Satin Stitches TRANSFORMED Costume (the sleeves have been changed from the original costume pictured below)

I was asked, this past week, if I, as a designer, was doing anything to contribute to the new politically correct task of going green and helping to save the planet. At first, I thought, no, not really. Most of the fabrics that we use at Satin Stitches are made from oil products, along with many of the trims. We are not able to use many natural fabrics with our splashy dance costumes. Nylon spandex, polyester chiffon, metallic sequins and lots of glass rhinestones are the materials that we use.

Hmmmm…I DO know that silk chiffon is more natural, but many clients cannot afford it. Bamboo fabrics are now available, but for towels and bathrobes. I have not seen any stretch spandex made with this type of fiber. Hemp fibers are available, but again, not readily available or affordable, in stretch form.

But wait a minute, what DO we do and what CAN we do?

The Original Satin Stitches Costume

Well, one of the big things that we do is promote very well made costumes that groups can wear for many years. When you contract with Satin Stitches to create your dance costumes, you get incredible quality. Our costumes are an investment. They are definitely NOT throwaway costumes. There is a place for inexpensive costumes, especially when you need them to only last through a few wearings, to showcase your casual dance students at your year-end recitals.

But if your dance team competes, consider purchasing costumes that will last more than one season. When you are ordering, for this year, or for next year, consider ordering costumes that you can use for MORE than one season. Choose a style that can be used with a variety of themes on its own, or with minimal changes. Then consider ordering costumes that you know will stand up to the task of rigorous competitions for more than one year.

These well made costumes may cost more up front, but when you consider the years that you can wear them, they are less expensive than if you need to buy new costumes every year. And you are helping to get away from our throwaway society.

At Satin Stitches, we pride ourselves on our very high quality. Our biggest customer base is comprised of high school dance teams. Some high school dance teams are in a rotation with other sports and activities, for budgets for new uniforms only 5 or 7 years. Because our costumes DO LAST for this long, we are a natural fit for these clients. Our most important task with these clients is to build in classic style along with the high quality construction. This is needed so that these dancers can enjoy dancing in these costumes and not finding them out of style, before they are able to order new costumes. We have high school dance teams that have costumes in their closet that they pull out again and again, as if they were new. We have NBA teams with limited budgets that have worn our sequined tops for 3, 4, and even 10 years.

If your dance team will not wear the same costume two years in a row, investing in high quality costumes can still work for you, if you plan to resell your costumes to another team. Or simply save them for a future season.

But how can your team afford the more expensive costumes? Our clients know the value of our costumes and plan to fund-raise to cover the initial costs. For studios, a huge idea is for the studio to invest in the up-front costs and plan to use the costumes for two or three years, for various routines. Charge your dancers for one-half or one-third the cost of the costumes each year, to cover the full cost.

We try to stretch our clients budgets whenever we can. An option that we have been offering for many years, is costume transformations. We know that styles come and go. If you invested in a costume, yes, you can get tired of it. We offer design consultations to transform your old Satin Stitches costume, or even a non-Satin Stitches costume. You tell us what you would like to achieve, and we can offer ideas on how to change your existing costumes, the most cost effective method possible. And if the transformation takes more time than it is worth, we will tell you. We do not want do waste your money on something that is not worthwhile. But if we can add something, or subtract something to make your costumes NEW again, and recycle what you already own, you will save lots of money.

You never have to worry, with your Satin Stitches costume, if it will last through the season. We hope that our customers truly understand the value of this. As a studio owner, or dance team director, you want to concentrate on the dancing, NOT on making sure their costumes stay together. We think you should not have to worry about the costumes!

So no, we have not been able to make shiny, glitzy dance costumes out of recycled paper bags or plastic bags and such, but we manufacture costumes with very high quality techniques that will allow the costumes to maintain their integrity for years. Your team can wear them for years, or you can resell them or loan them out to other dance teams, again, for years. When you tire of the style, you have the option to redesign your costumes into something that will fit your new theme or style, with minimal additional investment.

You can also be assured that we, as a manufacturer, do everything we can to recycle all the by-products of our manufacturing process. We use paper tissue and plastic film with our CAD cutting system. We recycle both of these things. Most of the smaller pieces of fabric that would be considered scrap are saved in paper bags. We offer these leftover scrap fabrics on a local free exchange website called www.twincitiesfreemarket.org. We have local crafters that are excited to get our colorful fabric scraps to make into various fun products! We save our leftover trim pieces to share with crafters, as well. The cardboard boards that hold fabrics or trims are recycled along with our scrap office paperwork and fashion and costume magazines. We use both sides of every paper in our office, before we send it to the paper recycle bin. The cardboard or plastic cones that thread comes on, are prized by childrens art classes to make Christmas trees or other fun items. Our lunchroom bottles and cans are recycled, as well as our thin plastic bags. We reuse boxes and packing materials.

Our most fun recycling is the selling of our no longer needed, old samples and any manufacturing overruns. We sell these for pennies on the dollar, on eBay. We used to try and sell these at sample sales or give them away to local community theaters and such. But eBay works better and we have been doing this for nearly eight years. We are able to find a new home for our overstock costumes, and our eBay customers get some really good deals! We also now sell useable leftover yards of fabrics, trims and notions on eBay as well. It is a win-win situation. We have more room for supplies for our current projects and people across the world have access to some really unique and fun stuff. And it does not end up in a landfill somewhere.

I challenge you, as an individual or company or team to try and recycle as many things as you can, and to think about the impact of constantly purchasing new costumes for every season or event. Think about reusing costumes and limiting your throwaway costume buying! Our company will continue to try and do our best with recycling and reusing. And when more planet friendly spandex and sequins become available, we will give them a try!

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Teacher, Studio, Costume Design, Costumes (all tags)