NZME launches a new sustainable fashion-forward partnership with design powerhouse RUBY through Liam Patterns.
NZME and RUBY are creating a circular solution, turning wastepaper from the end of newspaper print rolls from NZME’s Ellerslie printing press plant into printed patterns under RUBY’s Liam Patterns brand.
The new partnership highlights the sustainability journey both companies are on, as they look to incorporate new ways to support environmental awareness and sustainability.
The newsprint reels have unusable paper offcuts usually sent to be recycled, but this new partnership means the wastepaper is given a second life. NZME will put aside an allocated quantity of its reel ends for RUBY, which will then be taken to the Liam Patterns printing facility at Ellar Graphics for production. An average of 50-60 metres of newsprint can be used from each reel end roll for Liam Patterns, meaning approximately 18-20 patterns will be created per roll.
“This partnership shows how if we collaborate across industries we can keep raw materials at the highest possible value for longer. We are utilising NZME’s leftover paper, reducing waste and raw material production.
“The potential of this collaboration is huge! Most of the clothing industry that makes things in New Zealand (whether it is samples or bulk production) use newsprint. For example, at RUBY we use it when cutting samples, to print markers that our cutters lay on top of layers of fabric to cut bulk production. How much more waste can we divert? And what could be the overall drop in demand for new production?” says RUBY General Manager Emily Miller-Sharma.
