Theresa Hamari, left, manager of employment operations and training for Northern Michigan University Dining Services, and NMU alumna Michelle Gill showcase the repurposed dining uniforms. (Photo courtesy of NMU)

MARQUETTE — A sustainable strategy to repurpose dining uniforms instead of disposing of them and ordering new uniforms is an environmentally friendly approach that may save Northern Michigan University thousands of dollars.

Theresa Hamari, manager of employment operations and training for NMU Dining Services, came up with a plan to re-embroider 150 Simply Superior uniforms by sewing on a patch and covering the existing logo, allowing them to be reused.

With a total project cost of roughly $900, the process saved the university over $9,000.

Prior to the project, Hamari said she knew there had to be a sustainable option to repurpose the uniforms, so she began researching do-it-yourself embroidery removal tutorials. And then, the idea of patches dawned on her.

“I am very aware of the environmental hazards that the fashion industry poses — from polluting our waters, carbon emissions — and as clothes become more and more disposable it creates more textile waste into our already overwhelmed landfills,” Hamari said. “Also as an NMU alumna, I am always looking to support the university. I prefer to see dollars spent on scholarships and the current students’ needs.”

Hamari proposed the project with a “prototype patch” made from paper offered cost-savings benefits of a re-embroidered logo while also addressing the environmental impact of the fashion industry, she noted, adding that NMU is a college supportive of sustainability and recycling.

After presenting the idea to the dining services’ senior administrators, they “embraced the idea without hesitation,” she said.

With approval of the project, Hamari contacted a United States company to make the patches.

However, the company sends its items overseas to be manufactured and when COVID-19 hit China, the patches were stuck in customs with an unknown release timeline.

This issue left Hamari stuck at square one. But shortly after, she reached out to the United States online company Apparel 2000 LLC, which reassured her that all the patches they created were made in Rockland, Massachusetts.

Within a day, the company had a prototype created and matched the price of the previous company.

Just a few days after Hamari received a call from seamstress Michelle Gill — who would sew the patches on the uniforms — the project was underway.

Gill, also an NMU alumna, sewed 150 patches onto uniforms in just 48 hours. The project took one week to finish, Hamari said.

“In the end, we saved over $9,000, we are letting the students know we hear them, we value them and their desires for sustainability,” she said. “Also, NMU Dining Services is committed to sustainability and using local connections to feed our students, faculty and staff. Beyond money, it is 150 less items filling our landfill … (it) add(s) up to a huge impact.”

Not only was it an upcycling solution that helped reduce the impact on the local landfill, the project fit within four of NMU’s six core values: community, environment, connections and innovation.

“I hope our story will influence others into being less ‘disposable’ and more sustainable with their choices, from the food they put on their table to the ‘Say ya to the U.P., eh’ T-shirt they put on their back,” she said. “We are in this together and I am very proud to work for (an) employer that supports these values and the beauty (of) our natural surroundings.”

Jackie Jahfetson can be reached at jjahfetson@miningjournal.net.