Showtime: Milliken Partners with The Love Quilt Project, Showroom Features Quilts from Breathe by Milliken Fabric

June 4, 2019  by Jane Chero in Business Strategy, Industry   

The Love Quilt Project is a non-profit organization that connects children in the United States and South Africa who have been impacted by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The organization also offers financial assistance to fund the cost of sending these children to school to enrich their lives and provide valuable life-long skills.

In keeping with Milliken’s legacy of philanthropy and sustainability, Milliken Specialty Interiors supports The Love Quilt Project by providing white cotton fabric that children decorate with messages of love. These decorated squares are sewn into quilts that are given to other children in need. “This partnership with Milliken is a natural fit, since we support the textile industry in different ways. We can focus more of our efforts on enriching children’s lives through educational opportunities which is where we can have the most impact,” said Gretchen Ginnerty, founder of The Love Quilt Project.  

The Love Quilt Project teaches kindness, tolerance and compassion. Children in the United States and South Africa design and decorate squares with messages of support, encouragement and comfort. Volunteers then use these squares to sew into quilted blankets, which are shipped from one country to the other and distributed to children whose lives have been impacted by HIV/AIDS. In addition to teaching these children the importance of kindness and empathy, The Love Quilt Project allows them to build international bridges and experience the restorative power of love.

To date, The Love Quilt Project has worked with more than 6,500 children across the United States and South Africa.  In addition to donating quilts, the organization has also provided funding for 12 South African foster children to attend school for eight years and aided students with purchasing much-needed school supplies.

“Milliken Specialty Interiors actively seeks opportunities to work with non-profit organizations that use textiles to add value to people’s lives, so it’s natural that we would work with The Love Quilt Project,” said LeAnne Flack, marketing manager, Milliken Specialty Interiors. “Not only does this organization’s mission tug at our heartstrings, but its practice of actively upcycling fabric remnants to eliminate textile waste aligns with our core value of sustainability.”

Milliken is featuring three quilts in its Showtime showroom, each made from its popular, eco-elegant Breathe by Milliken performance upholstery fabrics. Featuring all-natural fibers, or those made from recycled plastic bottles, and plant-based stain resistance, Breathe fabrics are among the textile industry’s greenest options. The quilts are being prominently displayed in the showroom window in three colorways: blue, gray and cream.  

“We are proud to feature these beautiful and meaningful quilts into our showroom, to highlight this important cause and to demonstrate the importance of care – for others and for the world we all share,” Flack added.