Deadstock - why and how much?

You may have already noticed that one or two items of clothing are made of deadstock fabric . You will also find this term at NINA REIN. But what exactly is it and why is the fabric not dead? 

What is deadstock? 

Fabrics that are left over at weaving mills or fashion brands and are no longer used are known as deadstock . This occurs when customers do not purchase the originally planned quantity. But why are fabrics that have been ordered no longer purchased? 

This can happen for a variety of reasons, but is often a result of fast fashion. This involves overeagerly ordering large quantities of things that are not actually needed. It happens that large fashion companies with their monthly or fortnightly collections cancel orders and put the fabrics into storage for the time being. 

Storage costs are too high and new trends are just around the corner. To make room, unused rolls of fabric end up in landfills or are burned. 

Dead matter back in the cycle 

For us, burning or disposing of new fabrics is a pure waste of resources. In order to save these fabrics, there are middlemen who buy up the lengths and sell them on to manufacturers as deadstock fabrics . This approach works particularly well for smaller companies like us. We calculate all of our models with much smaller quantities and need less fabric than is usual in the fashion industry. This allows us to create capsule collections from the unused fabrics. 

The "dead" materials are brought back into the production and textile cycle, meaning that the resources used are not wasted. Textile waste, which usually ends up on foreign land, is reduced and no additional resources need to be used for new materials 

Potential? Yes! Solution? No! 

For our new summer collection we have used many fabrics from European dead stock . These are high-quality fabrics of the usual quality. You also benefit from this in two ways. Firstly, with the good conscience of doing something against the wastefulness of our society. Secondly, your favorite NINAREIN pieces remain affordable in the current inflationary situation. For us, this is an approach to counteracting waste in the textile industry and to pay attention to conserving resources. So why isn't this the solution? 

Since we are currently only producing very small quantities and often fabric quantities of less than 50 meters are sufficient, we can rely on deadstock with a clear conscience . For us, it is part of a circular solution. But that does not tackle the root of the problem of environmentally harmful overproduction. The quantities and production processes in the textile industry absolutely must become more sustainable, more people-friendly and more environmentally friendly. 

“ We treat our environment with care, both with people and with nature.” – NINA REIN 

When it comes to larger production quantities, we believe it is essential to use biodegradable raw materials and environmentally friendly processes. 

What is the best way to find your way around? 

Transparency is one of our principles that we use to run NINA REIN as a sustainable company. So that you don't have to spend a long time searching and researching, we have indicated our CO2 emissions and icons for the material and origin for each item of clothing. We have also created a simple overview of the symbols for you. 

At NINA REIN, we rely on a holistic, sustainable strategy that does not harm people or the environment. Fashion should not have a negative impact on our living space. Fair fashion should bring joy and accompany you every day in the form of your business outfit.