Nancy Judd, owner of Recycle Runway in Santa Fe, New Mexico, creates couture fashions utilizing what would otherwise be trash. Nancy’s goal and the goal of Recycle Runway are to raise public awareness about pressing environmental issues. She challenges people to look at waste from another perspective and to use their creativity to use fewer resources to create less pollution.
Each garment that Nancy creates is hand-sewn and can take 650 hours to create. A few pieces in the collection include:
• A black evening dress covered in flowers and vines cut from Coke cans. This garment is sponsored by Coca Cola.
• A Carmen Miranda style costume, sponsored by Target, is designed from repurposed Target logo materials.
• A Jellyfish Dress, created from plastic bags, was commissioned by the residents of Lincoln City, Oregon, to bring awareness to marine conservation issues.
She exhibits her work in high-traffic international airports, and museums. She also delivers environmental presentations and hands-on recycled art and fashion workshops to individuals of all ages.
Ms. Judd has worked in the recycling field for almost 20 years. She worked as the Recycling Coordinator for the City of Santa Fe. She was also the Executive Director of the New Mexico Recycling Coalition. In 1999, she co-founded the Recycle Santa Fe Art Festival and Fashion Show, one of Santa Fe’s most popular art events. She created her first recycled garment to promote the show.
In the last four years, Recycle Runway has faced challenges from the economic downturn. Recycle Runway’s revenue comes from sponsorship of exhibitions and new garments.
Organizations of all types gain advertising value through sponsorship of Recycle Runway exhibitions. Twenty-one of Ms. Rudd’s garments are currently on exhibit at the Hartsfield International Airport in Atlanta through May of 2012.
Ms. Judd was also invited to give a TEDx talk in Albuquerque in September 2011. The TEDx talk and the Atlanta Airport exhibition have generated notable interest in Ms. Judd’s art work and environmental education. Several jobs have resulted from these two projects. Workshops and presentations are another source of income for the business. Over the years, Ms. Judd has also made time to strengthen her business skills.
Developing the business and price structure presented significant challenges for Ms. Judd as there are no similar businesses that could be used as a model. She has worked with the Women’s Business Center Program administered by the Women’s Economic Self-Sufficiency Team (WESST), for five years.
The Women’s Business Center program is partially funded through a cooperative agreement with SBA that provides business training, coaching, mentoring and other assistance offered to socially and economically disadvantaged women.
WESST consultants assisted Nancy in determining how to price and market her unique fashions. Specifically, they helped her define the airport exhibitions as marketing opportunities for businesses that want to be associated with the environment, art, fashion, youth and education. Identifying the number of impressions offered at the high traffic airports was one method of determining the value for sponsors. Through WESST, Nancy also benefitted from financing using its microloan program, hundreds of hours of individual consultations and numerous training sessions. WESST also encouraged Nancy to recognize her talents and to value her art skills and business offerings. Developing Recycle Runway’s incoming revenue is an on-going learning process.
The Campaign for Change Collection was a project that brought international exposure to Recycle Runway. Ms. Judd, an active volunteer for the Obama campaign, created a collection of garments from left-over campaign materials. She took the Change Couture Collection to Washington, DC for the presidential inauguration of 2009. The project was featured on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. The Smithsonian Institution accepted one of the garments, the Obamanos Coat, into its permanent collection in the summer of 2011.
In the fall of 2012, Ms. Judd will begin offering the Recycle Runway collection of garments as a touring exhibition to museums around the United States. This will provide her company another revenue stream. She is currently applying for public art grants. Recently, she was awarded a contract with New Mexico Arts.
Ms. Judd uses her creativity to not only make beautiful garments and provide environmental education but also to build a thriving business that gives back to community and society.