Upcycled Sails

We’re proud to support The Mariposa DR Foundation, located in Cabarete in the Dominican Republic a beautiful beach town famous for kiteboarding. Mariposa is on a mission to educate and empower girls while creating sustainable solutions to end generational poverty. Our grant supports its Upcycled Sails initiative which turns used sails into bags available for purchase that in turn supports its educational programming.

Please enjoy this update from Jessica Mace, Deputy Director of Mariposa DR Foundation.

The Upcycled Sails program has taken off, and in the first ten weeks of 2018, Upcycled has grossed $4,585 — more than half of our gross sales in 2017!  The Mariposa Center and Cabarete Coffee (Mariposa’s coffee shop) account for nearly all sales, reinforcing our belief that we, Mariposa, can market Upcycled to support Mariposa’s mission.

New Designs: Ola & Mariposa
Our production team has hit a home run with two new designs. The wave design (pictured below) is in demand and is featured on our backpack and wristlet. We also have a new butterfly detail (pictured above) that further communicates the link between Upcycled and Mariposa. (Mariposa means butterfly in Spanish and the Dominican Republic represents the Mirabal sisters who fought social injustice and gave their lives for freedom.)

The wave pattern is a new design for Upcycled.

Student Group Boosts Upcycled Production
Last month, ten students from New Hampton School in New Hampshire, accompanied by their two Spanish teachers, spent a week at Mariposa helping Upcycled. The group worked with our team to inspect and cut several sails into sections that will be easier for the Upcycled team to access and use in production. The students also traced and cut patterns for backpack and shopping bag production as well as design elements for a new wristlet. Additionally, students harvested rope from the sails to be used as straps for the wristlets. In total, the New Hampton School injected 312 hours of service into the Upcycled project; they also found moments of joy in their work, such as the picture below when a sail the group was unfolding caught a breeze and created a tunnel of fun for the Mariposa girls!

Keep up with Mariposa!
Inspired by their work? Follow the organization on Facebook and Instagram! You can also purchase an Upcycled product on their Etsy page.