Carla Bellisio is a third-generation Garment District worker, so she knows her way around a glove factory, and is skilled with a sewing machine.
In the early stages of the project, a person watching would never know she is creating a bag for a toiletry kit to help people in shelters in and around the Garment District.
What You Need To Know
- Wing and Weft Gloves in the Garment District is making toiletry kits for the homeless using synthetic seat leather from decommissioned Southwest Airlines airplanes
- It's part of Southwest's "Repurpose with Purpose" program
- Wing and Weft's owner says it is the last glove factory in the Garment District
Wing and Weft Gloves is the last glove factory in the Garment District, according to owner Katie Sue Nicklos, who bought it in 2017.
It dates back to the early 1970s, and some of the equipment is from an old leather glove factory in upstate Gloversville, New York, once the center of the glove-making industry in the United States.
Bellisio is the director of sustainability and impact. Nicklos got a hold of Southwest Airlines’ synthetic “e-leather” seats from decommissioned planes. It’s part of the airline’s Repurpose with Purpose program, established in 2014. Nicklos was connected with Southwest by the organization Nest, which supports artisan and maker communities worldwide.
“I yelled at Carla from across the studio and said, 'Hey do you want these bundles of e-leather?’ And she absolutely did. I knew that she was the one that could make something wonderful out of them,” Nicklos said.
With the help of volunteers, it became a reality. Everyone from fellow members of the Local 764 Theatrical Wardrobe Union to friends and family and Bellisio’s niece’s Girl Scouts troop from Inwood helped out. Southwest employees at LaGuardia Airport collected items like shampoo, conditioner, razors and shaving cream, and even helped fill the bags.
“I really wanted to make sure that I created a project that supported our community and really used as much of the material as possible, so that’s when I started thinking about how we can use this and how we can utilize the talent we have available to us,” Bellisio said.
In April, 100 of the kits were donated to Covenant House and 200 to Urban Pathways, where an additional 200 will go by the end of the year.
The team is now looking for more opportunities to do things like this, and get the eager volunteers back.
“Every volunteer that came in this door thanked me for giving them the opportunity to volunteer and then asked when the next thing was going to happen and that was something that was unexpected for this project,” Bellisio said.
As Nicklos said, this made a lot of sense for a business focused on reuse, noting that gloves never die at Wing and Weft, they always get a new life.