DETROIT — Auto leather scraps and seatbelt remnants aren’t trash to Jarret Schlaff. They are future wallets, bags and shoes.

“We take leather that is otherwise destined for the landfill from the Big Three and their suppliers," said Schlaff, co-founder and CEO of Pingree Detroit. “All these remnants, small pieces, are too small to make a seat, but big enough for us to make a bag or a pair of shoes out of.”

To date, the Detroit-based company has kept 48,000 pounds of waste out of landfills since its launch in 2015, Schlaff said: “When it comes to the environment, a lot of materials can be really unsustainable, and they're designed to end up in landfills, whereas we want to be completely circular in our design and engineering.”

Pingree Detroit is among a group of Michigan companies focused on producing fashion merchandise from upcycled and recycled materials. Sustainable and ethical fashion has experienced growth in recent years, experts say, with consumers supporting U.S.-made, environmentally friendly products.

“I do think, especially with the younger generation, they pay very close attention to the kinds of products that they're buying,” said Kerrin O’Brien, executive director of the Michigan Recycling Coalition. “And want to support these local, community-based organizations that are supporting local workforce development.”

Pingree Detroit isn’t the only Michigan business to open in the past decade with a focus on reused materials. Detroit-based Bags to Butterflies makes handbags from reclaimed wood and discarded leather. In Muskegon, Oshki creates performance clothing out of plastic bottles collected from the Great Lakes.

The founders say they continue to grow their brands, offering more products as they aim to let no scrap material go to waste. “There are a variety of sizes of companies everywhere utilizing different things,” O’Brien said. “Leather, for instance, what Pingree (Detroit) is doing, it shows that there are creative ways to reuse just about anything you can.

"And if you can do it on a local scale, you can employ people to do that. So those kinds of projects and programs help to make recycling and reuse and upcycling tangible to the consumer so that they can engage and buy and support that kind of work.”

Time-intensive work

One recent weekday, employees and co-owners of Pingree Detroit were busy in a 4,000-square-foot warehouse on the city’s west side. They worked at stations, sewing and cutting leather while surrounded by shelves stocked with the materials they use to handcraft a variety of products, including leather shoes, wallets, planners and bags.

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