The Garment District, Inc., Cambridge

Beginning as an offshoot of Cambridge's historic textile industry and a complement to the inventive business model of By The Pound, The Garment District continues combining a repertoire of hip, quirky clothing with eco-friendly practices of recycling and consignment. The hard-working staff of 40 intercepts gently used fashions and unworn apparel before it can be carelessly thrown away or wasted on stylish scarecrows. More than 40,000 wearables don men, women, and children in modish displays of vintage, contemporary, and designer clothing, drawing in hats, dresses, shoes, and accessories from sources across the country to keep the racks stocked with millions of pounds of clothing throughout the year. Thread handlers sort through collected duds, hanging the stylishly suited on racks, sending overstock clothing to developing countries, and shipping soiled or torn clothing to a shoddy mill, where it is ground up and sent as threats to fashion designers.