What can you do with clothes that are too worn out to donate?
Research: Hattie Webb Words: Harri Welch
At Give Your Best we are looking for outfits for our shoppers that are in great condition and as good as new. We know that the fast fashion cycle has created many wardrobes crammed with unworn clothing and that these are the perfect pieces to be gifted to be ‘shopped’ for free by our community of refugee and asylum seeking women. We ask for gifters to ‘give their best’ and because of this we don’t accept worn out or damaged clothing—our general rule of thumb is that if it’s good enough to be sold on Depop or on Etsy then it’s good enough for Give Your Best! But, we do realise that not all clothing that is no longer needed is in good enough condition for Give Your Best and we often get asked, what is the most sustainable thing for people to do with clothing that’s too worn out to donate? And, how can we throw away less clothing generally?
But wait, how much of a problem is fashion waste?
Fashion waste is a huge and pressing issue with people in the UK throwing away around a million tonnes of textiles per year. Fashion production has also doubled in the last 15 years and, most concerningly, the ‘time clothing is worn before it is thrown away has fallen’ by almost half. All of this contributes to a larger issue: seeing clothing as something disposable and consumable. Fashion waste statistics are sobering: 73% of clothing waste will be burned or end up in landfill, 12% recycled and used for purposes such as insulation, and finally less than 1% will be used to make new clothes.
So how can we throw away less clothing? And what can we do with clothing that is not in good enough condition to donate to initiatives such as Give Your Best?
5 ways to reduce clothing waste
1. Wear your clothes for longer
Think about your garments ‘lifetime’—a term that defines how long it is worn for. The Environmental Audit Committee state that one of the most effective ways of reducing garments environmental footprint is to wear the item for an extra nine months and that this can reduce carbon, waste and water footprints by around 20-30% each.
2. Get your clothes repaired
Consider buying from brands that repair clothes such asNudie Jeans or Patagonia. Many brands also have guidesthat you can consult to carry out your own repairs or try out the newly developed app Sojo (self-described as the ‘Deliveroo [...] for clothing alterations and repairs’).
3. Learn how to upcycle
Learn how to upcycle clothes so that they last longer—whether exploring upcycling ideas, and ways to give clothes a new life, or Lily Fulop’s fantastic Maker’s Guide Wear, Repair, Repurpose. If clothing is really worn out then you can also use scraps to make cleaning rags and cloths - Love Your Clothes has loads of great ideas like household hacks for old socks!
4. Do more research about the impact of fashion
Research: increase your knowledge about garment construction, lifetimes, waste, greenwashing, and how to shop more sustainably. Writer and personal stylist Aja Barber explores how power structures affect how and what we buy and fair fashion campaigner Venetia La Manna highlights ways of upcycling and decreasing fashion waste in her #OOTD posts. Fashion Revolution is also an incredible resource and they have excellentguides on how to take action on fashion waste and the climate emergency: from the simple sewing on of a button to how to write to a policy maker to demand change.
5. How to recycle your clothing - as your very last resort!
Finally, if you do have clothing that you can no longer make use of and cannot repair, donate, or upcycle then the last resort is to recycle. You can find your nearest textile recycling location hereor search ‘neighbourhood recycling centres’ on your local council website.
Give Your Best poses a great solution for the new or lightly worn clothing in your wardrobe that you no longer need—empowering asylum seeking and refugee women and non-binary people in the UK and creating a more sustainable solution to clothing waste. So if you haven’t already, find out more about how to give to GYB here.