To Delainey Ashbrook, a poop-stained onesie isn’t trash — it’s a canvas.
And to get more people on board with her philosophy, the 24-year-old thrift store founder is starting a new movement she calls the 10,000 Onesie Project.
At Erthaware, her earth-conscious shop, her goal is to collect and repurpose 10,000 used baby onesies — many stained, worn, and headed for the landfill — and give them a colorful second life.
“I don’t think we’ve gotten kids clothes [brought into the store] that don’t come in with some sort of stain, which is expected in kids clothes,” Ashbrook said. “So, we thought, what can we do with this? How can we bring it back to life and give it a new life?”
The answer she came up with? Tie-dye.
She started experimenting with plain white onesies — transforming once baby-befouled fabric into swirled creations that are ready to be worn — and pooped on — all over again.
“If you do it dark enough,” Ashbrook said, “you don’t see the stain anymore. It basically looks brand new.”
After discovering this, Ashbrook took to Instagram and her business’s email list to encourage as many people as possible to donate their never-to-be-used-again onesies — with the ambitious goal of repurposing 10,000 of them.
Each recycled onesie is dyed by hand and sold for $5 in her shop, she said. Early versions even featured hand-stitched designs by Ashbrook’s mother, Linda Ashbrook.
But as demand grows, the store is focusing on the dye work to keep production efficient.
So far, the team has reimagined about 50 onesies, and Ashbrook admits her goal is ambitious. “The more we can get in,” she said, “the more we can do.”
Locals can bring their used onesies into Erthaware, located at 47 West and 900 North, anytime between Wednesday and Saturday between noon and 8 p.m. And those that do so will get 15% off their next purchase, Ashbrook said.
Those not living in the valley can purchase a $5 “erthabag” from Erthaware’s online store, which can hold quite a bit of clothing and comes with a prepaid shipping label to fill and send back to the store.
“It’s a pretty easy and good way to get rid of your clothing,” Ashbrook said, “instead of just throwing it away.”
Ashbrook opened her shop after taking a social entrepreneurship class at Utah State University that inspired her to build a business that made both economic and environmental sense.
She already had been reselling clothes since she was 15 and saw an opportunity to give secondhand fashion a new spin.
At Erthaware, she and one other employee sell clothes for women, men, and kids. The pair also work with local artists who turn damaged clothes into new items, like patched jackets and hair scrunchies made from old blankets.
For any leftover fabric scraps that can’t be used, Erthaware sends them to a company that turns them into things like insulation, dog beds, and socks.
“The clothes are just as good as when [they] came off the press, for the most part,” Ashbrook said. “So, there’s no reason to be buying new stuff in today’s time, with how much is circulating.”
