As it stands now, less than 1% of clothing material is kept in the fashion industry—and most of it is scraps from factories. To provide some context for this figure, Lauren B. Fay, founder and executive director of The New Fashion Initiative, says, “It’s important to remember that these fast fashion brands overproduce continually, so recycling is really a bare minimum responsibility.” As little as 0.1% of clothes are recycled or upcycled (turned into a piece of clothing of higher value) after being worn, according to an Ellen MacArthur Foundation report on the textile economy. In order to get these true recycling numbers up, some fashion brands are working toward a completely circular model of designing clothes that can be broken down and reassembled. So far, this is relatively rare: For Days, Eileen Fisher, and MUD Jeans are some of the few companies attempting it at scale. In the meantime, a growing number of brands are partnering with independent recycling companies to give customers the option of sending in their old clothes to be recycled (again, most often downcycled) for store credit. “Brands are in the best position to offer incentives to customers to recycle and have the framework to establish the logistics and marketplace to make sure items are recycled and not landfilled,” Eisenberg explains of the value of these partnerships for recycling companies. For brands, they offer a way to express environmental values and attract more customers. Some textile recycling centers also operate their own collection sites in most major cities across the U.S. Once they get their hands on this old stock, the recyclers decide how to best upcycle/recycle, downcycle, or trash it. Here are some options for the most populated cities in the U.S.: If none of these options are available to you, you can also take recycling into your own hands. “You might be able to keep scraps around for sewing and mending projects, contact a school to see if they’re collecting scraps for crafting projects, or ask your local animal shelter if they’re accepting scraps for dog toys and insulation,” fashion journalist Elizabeth L. Cline previously told mbg. “Just get creative and ask around.”
Emma received her B.A. in Environmental Science & Policy with a specialty in environmental communications from Duke University. In addition to penning over 1,000 mbg articles on topics from the water crisis in California to the rise of urban beekeeping, her work has appeared on Grist, Bloomberg News, Bustle, and Forbes. She’s spoken about the intersection of self-care and sustainability on podcasts and live events alongside environmental thought leaders like Marci Zaroff, Gay Browne, and Summer Rayne Oakes.
