Established in 2016, Makers Unite is a creative platform and social enterprise that works with skilled newcomers arriving in the Netherlands who have a refugee background. They create sustainable products made by upcycling secondary materials, such as life-vests discarded on Greek shores. Through these products, they aim to provide a powerful positive message and facilitate a dialogue about how migration can be an asset to society. In doing this Makers Unite also strives to encourage circular design and business models, and for the circular transition to be more inclusive. Production is led by their in-house team of tailors who collaborate with international brands, like Ben and Jerrys, on the co-creation of product collections. 

More than 850,000 people arrived in Greece by sea in 2015 alone, with more than 500,000 of these arriving on the island of Lesbos. As well as dealing with large numbers of refugee arrivals, islanders were also faced with an unusual problem: hundreds of thousands of life vests that were left on Greek shores.

When the people behind the Dutch social enterprise Makers Unite heard about the problem, they decided to bring 5,000 lifejackets to Amsterdam. The newcomer-lead initiative up-cycled the discarded life-vests into Re-Vest Life Ribbons, and took to the streets of Amsterdam on King's Day to spark conversation about the migrant crisis. Since then, the movement has since grown into a globally recognised network of creative locals and newcomers, designing and co-creating a diversity of sustainable products. Through these products, they aim to provide a powerful positive message and facilitate dialogue about how migration can be an asset to society. In doing this, Makers Unite also strives to encourage circular design and business models, and for the circular transition to be more inclusive. Production is led by their in-house team of tailors who collaborate with international brands, like Ben and Jerry’s and Filling Pieces among others, on the co-creation of product collections. The enterprise has started with a non-hierarchical governance structure, which has formalised as they have moved towards commercial income. The organisation strives to run on 100% commercial income from upcycled products in the coming years.

Since 2016, the team has also pioneered creative talent development programmes which have benefited over 130 newcomers with refugee backgrounds, 66% of which have been successfully matched to their next professional step within the Dutch creative industries. For example, the Makers Unite Creative Lab is a six-week course offered for free to newcomers. Participants bring with them existing expertise in embroidery, crafts and other creative disciplines. Over the course of the programme they take part in masterclasses, receive job coaching, get help with CV writing and complete challenges set by businesses. After the course, they are supported in matching their skills to further opportunities in employment or training. Newcomers find the programme through municipal government referral, word of mouth or Makers Unite's social media campaigns. Their programmes and the salaries of former newcomers that work as tailors in their workshop are funded through a combination of grant funding and commercial income from partnerships and the sale of their main collections of upcycled products.

Enabling factors:

- Participant feedback has been vital to Makers Unite's progress and evolution. They use this to continuously improve their offer and communications. 

- Having a strong social and environmental message has helped them in creating visibility for the organisation and attracting brand partnerships.

- In turn, brand partnerships help create visibility for the organisation within industry, which can pave the way for further commercial partnerships.

Challenges:

- Working with government organisations for referrals. The heavy rotation of staff within the municipal government can require new relationships to be built with client managers and means of communication to be re-established. 

- Moving away from grant funding to become self-sustaining. Grant funding can sometimes be restrictive and so forming commercial partnerships has been important for innovation and independence.