Southwest Airlines is expanding Repurpose with Purpose, aninitiative that upcycles, downcycles, and recycles hundreds of thousands of pounds of waste material into products with the help of partner organizations.

For the last two years, I've been the lead storyteller for the Repurpose with Purpose project, hearing more stories than I could ever put into two minute social videos.  The people I met in the indigenous communities with Carla Fernandez in Chiapas, the Veterans at the Arise Foundation in Nashville, the survivors of human trafficking at Rethreaded in Jacksonville, and the artisan volunteers at Dallas Designing Dreams have been my inspiration throughout this project.  Lives are being changed and beautiful art is being created around the world.  Check out the stories below...

Carla FernandeZ & taller flora - Mexico

Southwest Airlines is proud to announce a line of upcycled fashion accessories as a result of a multi-year collaboration with Mexican fashion label Carla Fernández that will upcycle hundreds of pounds of leather from seat covers into goods in the coming months. 

Arise Veteran foundation - tennessee

Southwest Airlines donated leather from seat covers to Jennings, Missouri-based nonprofit Arise Veteran Foundation.  Arise provides art instruction and skills-building programs for youth, veterans, seniors, and other disadvantaged groups.

Dallas designing dreams - texas

Dallas-based nonprofit Dallas Designing Dreams (DDD) has produced a line of items including golf club covers, jewelry, backpacks, tote bags, and luggage tags from the leather seat covers and old Southwest Airlines Employee uniforms.

rethreaded - florida

Southwest Airlines donated leather from seat covers to Jacksonville, Florida-based nonprofit, Rethreaded.  Rethreaded is creating a line of leather fashion jewelry and accessories that will be sold on www.rethreaded.com.

project runway all stars gets rethreaded

Irina Shabayeva, winner of Project Runway Season six, was tasked with designing a piece from items you would find on a Southwest Airlines® flight during the unconventional materials episode of Project Runway All Stars, Season 7. As the challenge winner, this created an opportunity for Irina to work with Southwest® to create an All Stars accessories line with a non-profit organization.