Despite dyslexia, NUS student started business upcycling textile waste into bags & accessories, now works with Decathlon

Entering tertiary education is simultaneously exhilarating and anxiety-inducing — you get your first taste of real independence and rack your brains over what you want to do with the rest of your life.

But it seems like Nuryanee Anisah got a head start.

In addition to studying full-time at the National University of Singapore (NUS), the 23-year-old handles the operations and business partnerships for a social enterprise she co-founded, called Commenhers.

Commenhers was co-founded by Nuryanee and her fellow entrepreneurship students during their polytechnic days in 2021.

The start-up gives new life to textile waste such as old denim pieces and transforms them into new and fashionable apparel.

To minimise its carbon footprint, Commenhers’ materials are sourced from textile recycling companies that collect preloved clothes in Singapore and Malaysia.

Commenhers was also recently featured in Vogue Singapore, and works with organisations to turn their textile waste into useful upcycled products.

Overcoming challenges

Nuryanee admitted candidly that her education journey wasn’t exactly smooth-sailing and she struggled academically.

School was not the easiest for her, as she had been diagnosed with dyslexia at a young age.

Nevertheless, through sheer hard work and a never-give-up attitude, she passed her GCE O-Level examinations on her second try.

In 2019, Nuryanee enrolled in a business administration course with a specialisation in entrepreneurship in Singapore Polytechnic. She graduated in 2022 as a Silver Medallist, and made it to the school’s Director’s Honours Roll.

It was during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 when Nuryanee first took notice of the amount of textile waste being generated.

She had read about thrift stores in Singapore dumping out unwanted clothes that had gone mouldy due to the decrease in human traffic.

“I felt that it’s a waste that these textiles were thrown away even though they’re of good quality.”

She started delving into the dark side of fast fashion, and discovered that the industry generates some 92 million tonnes of textile waste every year.

“I wouldn't say I was shopping excessively [before], but [I was] just patronising fast fashion brands without knowing the consequences of my actions when I purchased from them.”

Sewing everything by themselves at the start

The concept of using pre-owned items was not unfamiliar to Nuryanee — her mother exposed her to thrifting at a young age, and the family often purchased second-hand books as they were cheaper and often still in very good and usable condition.

Fueled by her desire to do something to reduce the amount of waste generated by unwanted clothing, Nuryanee teamed up with four classmates and started conducting market research on sustainable fashion.

They eventually conceived the idea of a clothing line using upcycled textiles, which crystallised into a project for their entrepreneurship specialisation in 2020.

“When we started Commenhers, we were sewing everything by ourselves,” she said.

Here are some of her early products:

“We then started building our team of clothesmakers, and were working with eight housewives,” says Nuryanee.

These women were good at sewing and tailoring and had wanted to earn some extra income.

Thanks to Nuryanee’s networking efforts to expand the team of clothesmakers, Commenhers is currently working with 73 beneficiaries — housewives, single mothers and seniors looking for ways to pass their time and earn a salary.

School helped shape her entrepreneurial journey

Keen on furthering her studies after earning her diploma, Nuryanee applied to NUS.

She is currently a Year 2 student in NUS College (NUSC) where she is pursuing her degree from NUS Business School, where she hopes to learn more about marketing and entrepreneurship.

NUSC students like Nuryanee benefit from a rigorous interdisciplinary education, experiential programmes designed to address real-world challenges and promote global perspectives, along with a vibrant campus residential experience, the latter being one of the highlights of her NUS student life.

Frequent pizza parties and zumba workouts with her friends, as well as the time spent bonding at the common lounge, are among Nuryanee’s fondest memories at the College.

Her NUS experience has been instrumental in shaping her entrepreneurial journey.

Nuryanee is part of the executive committee on the NUSC Entrepreneurship Club, where she can tap on the Club’s network for idea generation.

Entrepreneurial learning opportunities are also found in the wider NUS community, such as the NUS Social Impact Catalyst (NUSSIC), a student-led initiative that champions social entrepreneurship among youths, in which Nuryanee has taken on the role of project director.

At NUSSIC’s panel discussions, local entrepreneurs from startups co-founded by NUS alumni are invited to share their advice on running a business, such as Moonbeam, which makes sustainable nutritious food using spent grains, and Invigilo, an AI video analytics solutions provider for workplace safety in high risk sites.

The advice has helped her refine her business strategy, by balancing profit and communicating her brand’s impact more effectively to customers.

Commenhers was also awarded the winning prize of a grant worth S$10,000 through a pitching competition organised by NUSSIC and NUS Enterprise, known as the NUS Venture Initiation Programme (VIP).

With the grant, Nuryanee was able to establish two co-sewing spaces which are operated in collaboration with the PAP Community Foundation and Adventist Active Centre @ Golden Clover.

Prior to this, the Commenhers’ beneficiaries were sewing the products at home.

Working with big names

The opportunity to network with like-minded entrepreneurs as an NUS student gave Nuryanee the opportunity to expand her business to collaborate with organisations and retailers.

Currently, Commenhers has more than 10 corporate projects and workshops in the pipeline, to help clients reduce their waste and carbon footprint, and are working with the likes of international fashion and apparel brands, department stores, government agencies, schools, and hospitals.

Commenhers also offers the service of upcycling old textiles into corporate gifts.

The apparel brand has worked with Gain City to upcycle old uniforms into laptop sleeves, tote bags and coin pouches, as well as H&M, Decathlon, Pasir Ris Primary School, Northbrooks Secondary School and Dyslexia Association of Singapore on upcycling workshops.

An upcoming collaboration with Decathlon also sees Commenhers transforming Decathlon's gently-used tents and kayaks into new products such as duffle bags, grocery bags, chalk bags, shoe bags and tote bags.

Teamwork makes the dream work

As of 2023, Commenhers has upcycled over 1,500kg of textile waste, an amount which is predicted to triple by the end of 2024 due to the growing number of collaborations with corporate entities the brand has clinched.

Aside from the hard numbers, Nuryanee also finds joy in what she does from the relationships she’s formed along the way.

She credits NUS College’s Residential Student Life Manager Bianca Tham for being a strong pillar of support when she was adjusting to life at NUS while juggling her business.

“Bianca was there to support me through my journey and be a sounding board to help me explore viable options as I shared my challenges. It was really heartwarming.”

Nuryanee also hired two Commenhers interns from her networks in NUS — Yuki, a Marketing major from NUS Business who helps with their brand strategy and website, and Pree Bala, a Political Science major from NUS Arts and Social Sciences, who helps Commenhers reach out to prospective partners.

Nuryanee is also grateful for loyal customers who often come to her with positive reviews.

Customers have previously praised Commenhers’ bags for being able to last over two years. Others shared that they would get enquiries about their bags from friends and family members.

Last but not least, she has also formed deep connections with her team of clothesmakers.

“We’re besties now,” she laughed, adding that neither side views each other as boss and employee, but simply as equals.

To better communicate with some of the Mandarin-speaking elderly clothesmakers, she’s also learned how to introduce herself in Chinese.

To infinity and beyond

One of the perks of building a business while studying is that one can avoid facing the dread and indecision of choosing your next step after graduation.

Once Nuryanee graduates from NUS, running Commenhers will become her full-time job and she has big plans for it.

But as of now, she’s in the midst of preparing for her next big journey — a business trip to meet up with potential stakeholders as part of Commenhers’ plans to expand to neighbouring countries like Vietnam and Indonesia.

This is a sponsored article by NUS.

Top photo from Commenhers