by Mia Taylor
Last updated: 2:00 PM ET, Sat March 17, 2018
Have you ever wondered what happens to the countless discarded bed linens at hotels around the world?
Often, there is no centralized recycling process for such linens and they end up in landfills. One visionary associate at Westin Hotels & Resorts, however, has inspired the global hotel company to find a new, more meaningful and Earth-friendly use for the discarded items.
As part of a recent challenge issued by the company, Westin associates were asked to submit ideas that empower the communities in which they live and work. The ideas were to be tied to the company's Six Pillars of Well-being and one would be selected and funded by the brand.
More than 325 associates around the world took part in the contest. Among those submissions was a suggestion that the brand find another way to dispose of bed linens.
And Westin has done just that.
The company has created a new industry-first sustainability program called Project Rise: ThreadForward, which will collect, process and reweave hotel bed linens, transforming them into thousands of pairs of children's pajamas.
The pajamas will then be distributed to children in need whose circumstances can contribute to shortened and more fragmented sleep.
The new program kicks off April 16 and will give the gift of better sleep in cities around the world, from New York to Toronto, to Mexico City and Cape Town.
"As people integrate wellness into their lifestyle more holistically on the road and at home, giving back has increasingly become important to their overall sense of well-being," said Brian Povinelli, SVP and global brand leader, Westin Hotels & Resorts. "Wellness is in the Westin brand's DNA, and Project Rise: Thread Forward is evidence that we can empower the well-being of our guests and associates as well as make a difference in the communities around us - hopefully inspiring change in the industry as a whole."
Westin engaged various companies to assist with the process of collecting, cleaning and reweaving the linens, among them Clean the World (best known for its soap recycling programs) and also Divergent Energy, a company that sources the innovative technologies and solutions.
"Upcycling sheets into children's pajamas has never been done before," Shawn Seipler, founder and CEO, Clean the World, said in a statement. "As our partnership with Westin has grown over the past eight years through the bath & soap amenity program, we were excited when Westin came to us to help bring this vision to life. Westin's Project Rise: ThreadForward program is a phenomenal effort to continue to improve children's health and create a more sustainable future."
In just five months, 50 Westin hotels around the world submitted approximately 30,000 pounds of bed linens and terry to be sorted, broken down and rewoven into new material, using industry best practices in textile manufacturing.
A new and proprietary upcycling process was developed specifically for this program to ensure the new fabric met both U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission regulations and provided the comfort sought in children's pajamas.
San Francisco-based Venables Bell & Partners was tapped to conceive and design the finished pajamas, which feature the brand's signature color palette, zest, mint and flax as well as a whimsical illustration of a child rising over a moon with a book - a nod to a better sleep empowering a better day.
With the help of Delivering Good, Westin will begin donating the first 1500 pajamas next month to children in need, who are most prone to suffer sleep anxieties, in markets around the world.
"We know that pajamas are among the most requested items of clothing sought by our charitable partners that support low-income households; and we are delighted to work with Westin, who shares our passion and commitment to lift communities and empower people to be their best selves," Lisa D. Gurwitch, CEO & President, Delivering Good, said in a statement
Guests can also do their part to support the new program by purchasing a pair of pajamas on westinstore.com. A portion of proceeds will go back to Delivering Good.
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