We love leftovers.

Surplus can mean many different things.   For us, it means any textile that has already lived a good life or is ‘left over’ and now without a home.  Regardless of the type, you can bet there’s a lot.  Like a lot, a lot.  

With that, we look to extend the life of quality materials in beautiful and fun ways.

We use all the parts & leave no scraps.

We have a quiver of patterns to use with a variety of surplus textiles, trims and notions. As such, we work to use all the parts and leave no scrap.  We look for quality materials that have a great hand and are durable in construction, working with suppliers in a variety of industries, including auto, upholstery, and military, to get our sticky fingers on quality textiles that range in yardage to scraps.

We hope to inspire you to fix things.

Repair is noble and it feels goods.  Natural fibers in particular have a long history of repair and are a great place to begin on the road to repair. We hope you get a bit inspired to look around and fix things.  The opportunity is ripe.

Lot 1:  Genuine Issue

Designed around military surplus for 3 reasons:

1

The quality of military textiles can't be beat...from comfort, durability and function, the hand, drape and construction is top notch.  Having worked with these bags for years now, we still love the way they wear, hold and carry.  

2

Military surplus offers a relatively consistent source of materials to learn how to take one item of varying age and condition and transition it to a new item. Oof. It has been an incredible learning experience.  Most of the bags are from the 80's & 90's and as good as new.  We had to figure out what to do with the 30% that weren't.  It was fun. Not fun. Then fun again.

More importantly, what's not good as new can be repaired and improved.  It does confirm that a good cut & color can fix a lot.

3

There's a ton of it in Texas.   We'll let you do the math there.

We also use:

Textile scraps from cutting room floors and are beginning to dabble in manufacturing off-cuts and transport materials. 

Ultimately, the cutting room floor for most manufacturing is where the rubber meets the road as far as waste.  The opportunity for those of us who commit to working with leftover textiles is that we are integrated into the process.  There is value in the 92 million tons of textile waste created each year.

If you have a commercial surplus textile situation, email stephanie@surplusatx.com or give her a call @ 512-627-2339.

Get to Know the Different Types of Surplus:

Deadstock 

• Deadstock Fabric Rolls: Unused fabric left over from mills, designers, or factories.
• Overstock/Excess Inventory: Fabric or finished garments that were produced but never sold.
• Canceled Order Surplus: Fabrics or garments manufactured for an order that was later canceled.
• Seasonal Leftovers: Out-of-season textiles that remain unsold and are offloaded by brands.
• Discontinued Materials: Fabric types or prints no longer in production due to trend shifts or manufacturer decisions.

Post-Production 

• Cutting Room Scraps: Off-cuts and trimmings left during the cutting phase of garment manufacturing.
• Fabric Remnants: Smaller, usable pieces of fabric left at the end of a fabric bolt.
• Sample Yardage: Short yardages used for prototyping or sampling, often leftover after design approvals.
• Misprints/Irregulars: Fabrics with defects or misprints that render them unsellable as first-quality goods.

Post-Consumer 

• Unsold Retail Inventory: Clothing or textiles returned or unsold from retail stores, sometimes new with tags.
• Secondhand Clothing: Used garments collected through donation or resale programs.
• Damaged Returns: Items returned due to flaws but not suitable for resale.
• End-of-Life Uniforms: Retired uniforms from organizations (schools, companies, etc.).

Industrial Textile Waste:

• Manufacturing Offcuts: Surplus from non-fashion textile production (e.g., upholstery, automotive, aerospace).
• By-products from Technical Textiles: Surplus from industries producing specialized textiles (e.g., medical, filtration).
• Packaging & Transport Textiles: Surplus tarpaulins, canvas sacks, or protective textiles.