Once a school project, this S’porean’s biz upcycles textile waste for brands like Decathlon

When it’s time to clear out your closet, what do you do with your old clothes? 

For most people, they’d likely end up in the trash bin. But for 24-year-old Nuryanee Anisah (Yanee), the co-founder of Commenhers, discarded textiles are a chance to spark change.

Yanee’s business started as a school project, but today, she has managed to collaborate with big names like Decathlon and HSBC, upcycling over 7.5 tonnes of textile waste into fashionable apparel and accessories.

Here’s how she’s making a difference.

The start of Commenhers

Yanee has always had an entrepreneurial spirit—she often accompanied her father to business meetings, lending a hand with administrative tasks as he managed multiple ventures. This sparked her interest in entrepreneurship from an early age.

Her very first venture was “The Whatever Lah,” a t-shirt reselling business that she co-founded during her first year at Singapore Polytechnic (SP), though it eventually fizzled out due to her commitments at the time. 

Despite the setback, Yanee was given another opportunity to pursue her entrepreneurial aspirations during her second year at SP, as part of her Diploma in Business Administration—one of her modules required her to develop a business idea that addressed a gap in the market together with her classmates.

It was during this time that she learned that even thrift stores, which are often hailed as a much greener alternative to regular fashion retailers, were discarding their old and moldy clothes and contributing to textile waste.

This issue was particularly evident during the COVID-19 pandemic, when stay-at-home orders prevented people from shopping in person.

“Even when these items could be upcycled, I realised that old textiles, if they’re ugly, just get thrown into the rubbish bin or are donated,” she said.

With these findings, Yanee started Commenhers in 2021, together with a few people from her cohort who were “as passionate” about the idea as she was. The business was incorporated a year later, driven by “growing community interest” and a “steady increase in sales.”

Empowering marginalised communities

At the start, all of Commenhers’ products were handmade by Yanee and her team. However, after consulting with her lecturers and going through several pitching competitions, one key challenge became clear: finding a way to scale the business.

“At the same time, another thought I had in mind was also how I could expand the business without sacrificing the credibility and quality of our products,” added Yanee. “Because if we were to outsource production, how can we continue to deliver products that people are going to like with a quality that lives up to our expectations?”

As such, Commenhers decided to bring homemakers into their business, creating jobs for marginalised communities, including stay-at-home mums and the elderly.

These beneficiaries assist with the production process, primarily sewing, and are connected to Commenhers through charitable organisations like the Adventist Active Centre, PAP Community Foundation, and Daughters of Tomorrow.

Today, Commenhers collaborates with over 80 beneficiaries and has established four community sewing spaces in Singapore.

We hire them full-time or even part-time, and have set up these spaces—including the community sewing space I created together with Minister Grace Fu for homemakers in Yuhua—to foster a community that’s passionate about sewing and upcycling.

They have also set up their own upcycling studio as well, where their full-time makers are based. To ensure that their products are up to standards, Commenhers has developed SOPs and a clear order of operations, providing their makers with documentation and visual guides to communicate the quality standards required for each product.

Taking on bigger projects

On their website, Commenhers offers a range of products, including bags, bucket hats, and laptop sleeves, among others—these make up their B2C offerings.

However, the business is now mainly focused on their B2B clientele, working with different corporations in Singapore.

They initially operated exclusively on a B2C model, but Yanee realised that “there was potential to scale Commenhers even further” by taking a B2B approach.

According to Yanee, the root cause of textile waste lies in large-scale production by corporations, and with Commenhers’ makers group “growing,” they could also take on bigger projects.

When working with corporations, the business receives old textiles directly from these companies, allowing them to recycle materials without the added cost of sourcing textile waste.

“For example, when we worked with HSBC, we got them to pass us their own textiles for us to recycle, including the PVC banners that they used for their Women’s Golf World Championship.”

The company has also collaborated with Decathlon, upcycling the brand’s rejected and non-functional sports gears into new products, which Decathlon then sells in their stores.

“Among the products we’ve produced for them include duffle bags, which are made from kayaks—the lining comes from tents, and the zippers are repurposed from kayak bags,” she shared.

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Since launching Commenhers, Yanee has graduated from SP and is now enrolled at NUS’ Business School.

Despite juggling academics and entrepreneurship, she’s focused on positioning the business as one of the “key players” in upcycling textile waste in Singapore.

To date, Yanee claims that Commenhers has sold over 7,300 products. “In terms of our sales and revenue, we’ve doubled since we first started, or maybe even more, so we’re happy to reach that,” she added.

Looking forward, we hope to further expand the impact by recycling more textile waste and creating more opportunities for local beneficiaries through hiring. 

Featured Image Credit: Commenhers