Waste Explained
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A Commitment to Craft
Learn about how we manage waste and what our Waste Management tags mean.
Waste Explained
When you see a waste label on a Kargede piece – “No Waste”, “<1%”, “Offcuts and <1%”, or “Deadstock and <5%” – it’s not marketing language, rather a small description of how efficiently that garment was cut and built.
This is only possible because we keep everything in-house: design, patternmaking, grading, cutting, sewing. Typical large-scale production can throw out 10–15% of fabric as cutting waste per garment, and in some cases up to 35%, all before that piece is even sewn. That waste usually goes straight to landfill or incineration without ever being worn.
The fashion industry produces an estimated ~92 million tonnes of textile waste every year, and a significant portion of that waste is generated before the clothes ever reach a customer; in other words, at the making stage.
Continue reading to learn more about each waste management tag.
Our Waste Levels
"<0.01%"
Meaning:
The garment is patterned and cut in a way that uses a full length of fabric with virtually zero unusable offcuts. No slivers. No awkward wedges. No “bin scraps.” The only waste produced is from thread trimmings.
Why it matters:
This is the gold standard: every millimetre of that fabric becomes part of the garment. In an industry where it’s normal to throw away huge volumes of perfectly good textile on the cutting room floor, achieving true “Zero Waste” is extremely rare.
"<1%"
Meaning:
The garment is patterned and cut in a way that produces less than 1% waste. There may be tiny unusable offcuts (for example, small curved trimmings from armholes or necklines).
All remaining offcuts from these garments are kept, sorted and stored by us for future use – they’re not binned. Because we cut and sew in our own atelier, we can actually keep and re-use these micro panels later, instead of treating them as factory trash.
“Offcuts and <1%”
Meaning:
The garment itself is made from offcuts – meaning pieces of high-quality fabric left from past cutting runs that would usually be considered “waste” in a conventional production workflow. We rebuild those offcuts into new garments. There is absolutely no difference between offcuts and a fresh length of fabric, they are identical in every way.
During this process, we continue to cut efficiently, keeping total additional cutting waste under 1%.
"Deadstock and <5%"
Meaning:
The garment is made from deadstock fabric: high-quality rolls that already existed in the supply chain and were heading toward storage, write-off, or eventual landfill. We cut that fabric in-house and keep all major offcuts. Due to the limited nature of this fabric we do not design minor items to utilise small/medium scraps in the same way we do with our core items, therefore the waste from utilising deadstock fabric can reach up to 5% of a length of fabric.
Why this matters:
Deadstock is not “cheap leftovers”; it’s often premium material that was simply overproduced. By using it, we’re not asking a mill to spin new bulk yardage for a speculative fashion idea. We’re using what’s already here, and we’re cutting it with discipline so it doesn’t just become “pre-consumer waste,” which is one of the least visible but most damaging waste streams in fashion.
FAQ
Why doesn’t every single garment get a “No Waste” label?
Different silhouettes demand different shapes. Sculpted pieces, curved panels, fitted bodices; they’re not perfect rectangles. Sometimes you physically cannot lay those shapes down without creating tiny trims. When that happens, our target is “<1%,” and we still keep those trims for future builds.
“<1%” is already dramatically better than the industry norm of 10–15% standard cutting loss, with some reports citing up to 35%.
What happens to the offcuts you do generate?
We store them and we reuse them in a future run of the same garment, other garments that use the same fabric, or in smart ways such as through our Tote Bag program. Some of our offcuts will be used for prototyping or training too; nonetheless, the fabric is utilised in a way that mitigates the need for additional consumption.
Does “Deadstock” mean “eco”?
Deadstock means resource rescue. It means we’re giving existing premium fabric a life instead of letting it sit in storage until someone quietly trashes it. It’s not magic, and we won’t pretend it cancels out the impact of clothing production as a whole; but it directly prevents usable textile from becoming pre-consumer waste.
We implement deadstock fabric into our range as a way of exploring new techniques, designs and fabrics in a responsible way.
Why talk about waste at all?
Because fashion’s waste problem is enormous and accelerating. Globally, the industry is generating on the order of 92 million tonnes of textile waste every year, and production has doubled in the last two decades while the average time a garment is actually worn keeps dropping.
If you’re going to buy clothing in this world, you deserve to know whether the brand making it can look you in the eye and show their cutting table. We can, and we’re extremely proud of that fact.
Does waste management limit your designs in any way?
No. We don’t design around waste targets, we design because of passion and a love for the craft. The starting point is always form, structure, attitude, presence on the body — not “how do we get a badge.”
Only once a design is close to final do we sit down with the pattern and ask: where can we reduce unusable offcuts without weakening the garment or compromising the silhouette? Can we reshape a panel and still keep the line clean? Can we nest these pieces tighter without forcing a design shortcut?
It’s honest to say this part comes after the creative process, not before. We won’t pretend otherwise. But here’s the important thing: most brands won’t even do that second stage. We do. And forcing ourselves to solve that puzzle over and over has made us sharper patternmakers, tighter cutters, and better designers overall.
