Canadian Olympic soccer player, Amy Vermeulen wearing a sports bag made by Common Thread (photo courtesy of Common Thread)

In Vancouver’s inner-city a unique cooperative called Common Thread weaves together opportunities for residents. Comprised of five organizations with sewing programs, this cooperative social enterprise takes sourced materials (donated or recycled) and repurposes them into tote bags, backpacks, and other products. Common Thread began in 2007 when these groups came together in order to seek higher volume contracts than any one of them could accommodate alone. It sustains each individual partner group within it by coordinating a flexible manufacturing process with a more reliable stream of work.

The cooperative was recently chosen as one of a handful of community based enterprises and charities to receive 2010 Winter Olympic Banners donated by the City.

The 800 banners, which were donated to Common Thread via its member organization The Kettle Friendship Society, will be used in an innovative collaboration with Mills Basics to produce a limited edition line of notebook covers with customized notebooks. Mills is a family owned Vancouver company that has provided office support and products such as printing, furniture and supplies to business since 1947. The company supports environmentally and socially responsible business practices and will be donating the profits from the sale of these special notebooks to H.A.V.E a culinary social enterprise in the DTES.

This isn’t the first time Common Thread have received Olympic Banners either. Building Opportunities with Business has been working with Common Thread since May 2009 to help connect the group with high volume sewing contracts like the City’s Great Beginnings Program. As part of this, Common Thread produced 1,500 children’s backpacks from the City’s pre-Olympic/Paralympic banners in a project called Sew A Legacy. The backpacks were filled with school supplies (many donated by Mills Basics) and distributed by the City to inner-city schools. Having coordinated production among more than 20 local sewers from organizations such as the Kettle Friendship Society, the Aboriginal Mother Centre, Coast Mental Health and the Afghan Women’s Sewing and Craft Co-op, Shirley Chan, CEO of BOB, attests to Common Thread’s ability to bridge organizations and bring benefits to the community. “Common Thread is an excellent example of the community capacity building power of social enterprises. Bringing together the resources, cooperation and support of government, community groups and non-profits, their work directly helps residents by creating jobs that contribute to a social and environmental purpose. BOB is pleased to support their work.”

Social enterprises are businesses that are driven by a social or environmental causes. They have become increasingly common engines of job creation and community support in urban and rural areas, and particularly in Vancouver’s inner-city. Common thread is an excellent example and one whose profile is growing. The special edition notebooks made from the Olympic/Paralympic Banners are scheduled to be ready by mid-August and can be purchased through Mills Basics.

For more information about common thread or to place an order contact Melanie Conn

Common Thread
626 Slocan St.
Vancouver, BC
V5K 3X7
Tel: 604-736-0935

Web: http://www.commonthreadcoop.ca
Email: info@commonthreadcoop.ca