SELJAK
Sam and Karina Seljak are two sisters who imagine a world without waste. They are finding new ways of making and using beautiful things that are regenerative by design.
Seljak Brand launched in March 2016 and has since worked towards accelerating the transition towards a more circular economy. Their closed loop blankets are made from recycled merino wool off cuts from the factory floor of a wool mill in Tasmania.
So far they have:
- Diverted 2,000kg of textiles waste from landfill
- Donated 150 blankets to the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre in Melbourne
- Crowdfunded $32,000 to help fund the research and development of using other businesses' textile waste to make more blankets
- Been awarded $15,000 in funding from Macquarie Group to continue development of textiles waste to resource products.
Inspired by the resourceful and mutually beneficial practices they were seeing they poured their time into understanding the circular economy and closed loop methodologies. Ultimately, they wanted to test the new paradigm ourselves, where things were built to last and be renewed.
Their respect for Australian wool lead them to the oldest weaving mill in Australia, which retains all of its production off cuts for future use. Using these off cuts to make blankets, they incorporated a closed loop system that uses the blankets for re-manufacture at the end of their life.
Seljak Brand was born. The blankets are 70% recycled Australian merino wool and a 30% blend of polyester and recycled alpaca, mohair and cotton - cosy enough for indoors and durable enough for outdoors.
For every ten blankets sold, Seljak Brand donates one to the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre in Victoria. Their grandparents were refugees from Slovenia and they want to support asylum seekers making a new home in Australia.
