Only ~20% of donated clothing is actually sold. The rest of it gets sent to a landfill or sent to developing countries, where the influx of clothing harms local industries. Much of my old clothing is in great condition and can be re-loved by someone, but some of my things do in fact make it to the end of their useful life. If you’re in the same boat, you may want to recycle your old clothes. Many brands have set up collection bins in their stores and offer incentives for donations. Though I was initially excited about the environmental impact of fashion becoming more well known among consumers, I didn’t know which brands I could trust. And more importantly, I didn’t know which brands I couldn’t trust.
this post contains affiliate links. all opinions are my own.
Here are some things to look out for when looking for a place to recycle your old clothes:
- Look for information on their website. If they’re doing it right, they’ll talk about their partners, how the recycling is actually done, and will give updates. If a company is truly excited about recycling textiles they should have lots of information available about their recycling programs. Bonus points if they have a dedicated section for their clothing recycling on their website.
- Look into the partner companies doing the actual recycling. Most of the time brands simply collect clothing and send it to a partner organization to be recycled. Check out the partner organization’s website. See how long they’ve been around and learn more about the recycling process directly from them. This is a good way to be informed about your donations, too. Sometimes brands are vague about what they will or will not accept. This may result in the recycling partner throwing away items that don’t meet their donation criteria. (i.e. a certain type of shoe or jeans made from 100% cotton)
- Read the company’s annual reports or sustainability reports. Not every company has these, but if a company is proud of their success they will show it off. See if there is any information about how much has been collected. Look for what percentage of their clothing is made using the recycled textiles. If they collect millions of textiles but none of their clothes are made with recycled textiles, that’s fishy. This could be a sign that they’re simply capitalizing on the eco-fashion movement.
Below are brands with enough information about their programs that I trust what they’re doing. There is ALWAYS room for improvement in terms of communicating corporate social responsibility, but these are brands that meet my personal standards.
Recycle Your Underwear With SUBSET
Underwear is especially tricky to recycle. You shouldn’t donate them and you don’t want to throw them directly in the trash. Sustainable underwear brand Subset has a recycling program that accepts any brand of underwear, socks, bras, and even tights. Their recycling partner Supercircle takes old underwear, bras, socks, and even tights and turns them into new materials like insulation, carpet padding and furniture bedding. Subset provides a FREE prepaid shipping label to recycle your used undies and in return you get a discount on a future Subset purchase.
Recycle Your Old Clothes, shoes, and accessories With TRASHIE (formerly For Days)
Trashie is a brand dedicated to giving your old clothes a new life. You can fill a Take Back Bag with *washed and clean* clothing, accessories, shoes, and even underwear or single socks and send it in to be sorted for donations or recycling. Trashie states that about 70% of their items are reused globally (being resold on the secondhand market or donated responsibly) and about 30% is recycled into new fibers to be used for pet bedding and building materials. With every Trashie bag sent in you get “TrashieCash” rewards that you can redeem with a variety of sustainable brands!
Recycle Your Swimwear With Fair Harbor
Fair Harbor is a swimwear company that uses recycled plastic bottles to create its fabric (Fair Harbor is also was co-founded by a girl I went to middle school with!). Fair Harbor’s Round Trip Initiative is aimed at reducing even more waste by recycling your swimsuits through their partner 2ReWear. You can sign up on Fair Harbor’s website for a shipping label and you’ll receive a discount on your next purchase.
Recycle Your Activewear With Girlfriend Collective
Girlfriend Collective is one of my favorite slow-fashion activewear brands. They are conscious about each design and production decision that goes into making their recycled plastic bottle activewear. Through their recycling partnership with Supercircle, you’ll receive a free shipping label and rewards for a future Girlfriend purchase. Learn more about Girlfriend Collective in my post here.
Recycle Your old Tees & Clothes with marine layer
Marine Layer has partnered with Trashie to recycle old clothing. What’s cooler is Marine Layer uses upcycled cotton from old tee shirts in some of their new tee shirt designs! Get at $40 reward at Marine Layer with every bag sent in for recycling.
Companies You Trust
I asked you all on INSTAGRAM to share your favorite brands with recycling programs and this is what you shared:
- The North Face partnered with Souls4Soles for their Clothes The Loop campaign. You can get $10 off your next purchase of $100 when you donate clothing or shoes from any brand at North Face retail and outlet stores.
- Credo Beauty will recycle your “empties” (aka empty beauty / personal care product containers) through their partner Terracycle. For each full-size personal care/beauty product recycled in a Credo store, you will receive 10 Credo Reward points.
- Though there’s no incentive here, Nike’s Reuse-A-Shoe program collects used running shoes to turn them into Nike Grind, which is used in footwear, apparel, and athletic surfaces. I love Nike Grind especially because Grind materials are used in 71% of Nike footwear and apparel products. This is truly giving athletic gear a second life. (In contrast, H&M collects tens of thousands of tons of clothing through their textile recycling program, but their most recent annual report makes no clear distinction as to whether H&M is using those recycled textiles in their garments).
Part of being a conscious consumer is knowing what to do with your clothing once it has reached the end of its useful life. There are lots of textile recycling and donation programs out there. Make sure you do your due diligence and choose to partner with companies who are committed to making the world a better place (and commit to actually recycle your old clothes).
10 Responses
This is such a cool thing 😎 I love it!!!
So glad!
This is so helpful! Thanks Megan 🙂
So glad you think so!
Thoughts on ThredUp x Reformation?
This is a wonderful post! I’m aiming to clean out my closet this week, so I’m pinning this post to refer back to! Love love love how dedicated you are to sustainable living. I will definitely be binge-reading your blog this week because I want to start living a more sustainable life, too!
Lauren
http://laurensjourney.com
Yay I’m so glad! Definitely subscribe for e-mail updates on my sidebar to get notified whenever I have a new post!
Thank you! It’s hard to find brands you can trust these days. It’s important to me and I’m very glad there are such companies and that they pay attention to recycling and ecology.
Hello,
I love the list, really great job outlining these amazing ways to recycle your clothing.
Website:
http://www.thetreehuggersstudio.co.uk
Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/TheTreeHuggerStudio
I found a place several years ago where they would send me a bag where I could send them my husband’s white cotton tee shirts. There was no charge for the bag, but the only one I can find now is I have to buy the bag and get credit for a purchase. I don’t need credit, so I’m not going to pay for a bag. Do you know a site I can go to so I don’t have to throw all his ole tee shirts in the trash? Thanks for your help.