HOMEWOOD, PA—Thread International plans to recycle plastic bottles collected by workers in Haiti, Honduras and Taiwan into fabric and use it to manufacture shoes, clothing and a new line of high-end backpacks, reports Trib Total Media. The company's founder and CEO is Ian Rosenberger, who appeared on the reality show Survivor in 2005. Rosenberger founded Thread in 2012 and has been selling fabrics to the likes of Timberland, Reebok, Marmot and Aerie.

In April, a grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation allowed him to open a facility on the top floor of a former factory in Homewood with the idea of manufacturing backpacks and other items there for retail sales. He said the company has so far recycled 40 million plastic bottles. The bottles are ground up into flakes and made into fabric.

“It’s like what if a company could create those products made entirely out of recyclable and sustainable materials and create jobs in a local community, and that’s where we started,” says Rosenberger. “We picked the backpack because we felt that was the first entrée into it.”

The backpacks and accompanying cord pouches are now available for sale on Kickstarter, which bills itself as the world’s largest crowdfunding platform for creative projects. They will be offered for sale to retail stores in 2019.

Backpacks are being manufactured in China, but Rosenberger said he plans to move the operation to Homewood. Local workers are making cord pouches onsite. It takes 25 plastic bottles to make a backpack.

“In August, we released to the general public for the first time,” says Rosenberger. “That went out on Kickstarter, which over the course of a day we hit our goal, which was originally $50,000 in sales. It’s going to allow us to reinvest all of those dollars into the facility you see behind me and eventually to make all of our products right here in Pittsburgh.”

Thread is making large and small backpacks, which sell for $119 and $129, respectively, on Kickstarter. The cord pouches, made for storing electronic cords and equipment, cost $20.

Rosenberger says he employs 30 to 35 people at the Homewood factory, 12 of whom are Homewood residents. He declined to specify the wages, but said it’s “good pay,” and the company offers each employee health care benefits and a 401k retirement plan.

Rosenberger says he’s working on another product line for manufacture. "But I’m not telling you,” he says, laughing. “We’re going to work really hard to make sure we can manufacture it here.”