I saw a guy in Portland wearing a jacket made from old truck tarps

It was at a food cart pod on 12th Avenue, and the material was this heavy, faded canvas with the original company logos still visible. He said he made it himself because he wanted something that could 'take a real beating' and the idea of using industrial fabric stuck with me. Has anyone else tried designing with repurposed work gear or heavy-duty materials like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

johnp981mo ago

Ever try to sew a tarp with a regular sewing machine? I broke three needles just trying to make a grocery bag out of an old tent. My machine sounded like it was having a full on panic attack. Guess I should stick to normal fabric.

oliver_west661mo ago

That's such a cool idea, I bet that jacket is basically indestructible lol. Makes me wonder what other tough fabrics you could use, like old conveyor belts or something.

annas871mo ago

Conveyor belts are actually a pretty common one, people do use them. But calling them a fabric isn't quite right, they're more like solid slabs of rubber and fabric piles. The real trick is finding a material that's tough but you can still actually sew it without breaking needles every two seconds. That's the hard part with a lot of industrial stuff. You need special heavy duty machines, not just a home sewing setup.