There are so many places to donate or sell old clothes that are still in a decent condition. I mostly donate my old clothing, but I have also tried selling pieces to second hand shops and online through Poshmark. These places won’t accept some things though such as old underwear, bras, socks, or clothing with stains or holes in them. What can be done with this type of clothing?
My sewing projects also result in a lot of leftover scrap fabric. I do my best to use up as much of the scrap fabric as I can (I am currently working on making bags to organize my sewing supplies out of scrap from past projects) but there are still tiny pieces of fabric that result from cutting patterns that are hard to turn into anything. Is there a way to recycle these teeny tiny pieces of fabric or are they destined for the landfill?
Here some options I found that are of no cost to the recycler. Some even come with benefits!
Retailers:
· North Face- There Clothes the Loop program allows you to drop off your used apparel and footwear (any condition, any brand) at retail or outlet stores. Recycling at their stores earns you a $10 reward toward your next purchase of $100 or more at The North Face.
· H&M- All textiles are welcome – any brand, any condition. Drop your bag of unwanted clothing in the recycling box at your local store. For every bag of textiles you drop off, you’ll receive a discount card for 15% off your next in-store purchase.
· Zara- Drop off clothes in store that you no longer used and they will be donated, recycled, transformed into new fabric, or sold to help finance the social projects of the non-profit organizations supported by Zara.
· American Eagle- Can drop off old jeans, shirts and shoes. Receive $5 off any American Eagle Outfitters jeans you purchase. Every item collected is fully recycled and recreated into new textiles.
· Levi Strauss & Co- You can drop off any denim from any brand. You’ll receive 20% off a single item for recycling.
· Madewell- Recycle old jeans. They’ll have them turned into insulation and you’ll receive $20 off your next purchase of jeans
· Harper Wilde- recycles your old bras. When you purchase a new bra with them, they send postage to send back up to 6 bras to be recycled in the package that your new bra was received in.
· Patagonia and Eileen Fisher will accept worn out clothing that was purchased from them. Eileen Fisher’s Resewn collection is amazing! Check it out.
Charities:
· Some Goodwills will recycle unusable textiles but I would recommend checking with your local Goodwill first because I read several stories of locations that did not recycle these kinds of textiles and they ended up being sent to the landfill.
· I also found Planet Aid will take fabrics in any condition at their drop boxes but further research showed that this charity got an “F” rating per CharityWatch due to a small portion of the company’s budget going towards charities, so watch out! It is always a good idea to do a little research to make sure a company is actually practicing what they preach.
Compost:
· If the fabric is 100% cotton it can be composted but this is rare for most fabrics these days
As a tip, I read that it can be helpful if you separate your unusable fabric and indicate it as being so on the bag before recycling it at one of these locations. Sorters go through everything to pull out what can be reused so it saves them a little time and they appreciate not stumbling upon someone’s old undies.
While the options are limited at the moment it seems there is momentum in the textile industry and thankfully more companies are signing up to provide this kind of service for their customers each year!
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