Project Repat, Mexico City

In their first year, Project Repat repurposed about 250,000 T-shirts into memorable blanket keepsakes. That's 250,000 T-shirts that didn't end up in landfills. That's 20,000 hours of fair wage work in the United States. That's zero gallons of water wasted on blanket creation. That's 10,000 jobs in the blanket fort construction industry. Not to mention Project Repat makes warm, high-quality blankets, too.

Here's how it works. First, you'll decide if you want to design your own T-shirt pattern, or trust the all-American employees to design the blanket for you. Then, gather up the T-shirts, sweatshirts, and jerseys you'd like to use, and cut them apart to separate the fronts from the backs. About 12 shirts make a lap blanket, 30 make a full-size quilt, and 64 makes a king-size quilt. The fronts and backs should then be mailed to Project Repat, along with a photo of the desired pattern if applicable, and a few weeks later, a beautiful T-shirt quilt arrives in the mail.