It’s 2024 and fast fashion is out! Your favorite fashion brands should let you recycle your old clothes.
We are better off donating and recycling our garments than throwing them into landfills. Landfills have been proven dangerous to the environment due to greenhouse gas emissions as much as 9.8 tonnes of methane per hour, or 85,000 tonnes per year.
We’re going to show you how recycling garments works and some great brands with sustainable recycling services. Letโs dive in.
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Take Back My Clothes: How Fashion Brands Responsibly Recycle Your Old Clothes
Unused and unwanted clothes can become one hell of a waste. People used to wonder whether it was possible to recycle old textiles and unused clothes. Thanks to modern technology, such a thing is now viable.
First, all old clothes are sanitized and sorted according to their type of textile, some require a specialized machine to separate some parts that are held together by glue or chemicals. Most fabrics go into a machine that deconstructs them into small fibers and then turns them into a thread. After those processes are done, the recycled fabrics are ready to be manufactured into new clothing items.
Plastics, rubbers, or metals, are collected and turned into other things, like zippers, soles, velcro, buttons, recycled polyester fabrics, and more. Sometimes, some parts are repaired and refined so that manufacturers can reuse them again as required by laws and waste directive agreements in certain countries, like France.
Some organizations assisted in the development of these processes, like Fashion for Good and Circle Economy. Both initiatives help the fashion industry to be more eco-conscious and ethical. Fashion for Good assists and invests in innovations, whilst Circle Economy helps to maintain the workforce and resources to be as humane as possible.
Less fashion waste; more sustainable clothing production.
How Sustainable are Recycled Clothes Compared to Fast Fashion?
Compared to fast fashion, recycled fashion requires less energy and resources to make, since most brands will gather used clothes from their consumers, get unused stock from clothing lines, or go as far as collecting materials from landfills.
They also produce the minimum amount of waste since less or even no chemicals are used in the manufacturing process. The process only requires them to be sanitized by washing and sterilizing.
Recycled clothes could last for years. Many brands like Taylor Stitch and Pact upcycle their carefully manufactured clothes To ensure that theyโre long-lasting. A pair of sneakers made from recycled sneakers could last for up to 2-3 years and some could still be recycled for future use. Take a look at how old shoes could be recycled.
Unfortunately, a lot of famous clothing brands like H&M and Adidas use recycling as a means of greenwashing their mass production. Learn more about greenwashing in our guide, so we can help you choose more sustainable fashion. It is best to recycle your clothes and buy recycled fashion through certified eco-friendly brands, not the big brands that are mass-producing clothing.
No More Dull Denim: Discarding Your Old Clothes and Garments Responsibly
Now that weโve shown you how the companies do their part to mitigate waste, you can do your part too. If you ever want to donate and recycle your clothes wisely, then we have good news for you: many shops and brands could help you do just that.
You can find trusted organizations that offer recycling or help you with used clothes. You can also donate your old clothes to people in need. Read this story of how local shops and organizations help you with your wardrobe’s spring cleaning.
To find out more ways of discarding your clothes, you can discover our 6 ways to ethically get rid of used clothes and shoes.
Ever wonder which sustainable brands could help you with recycling clothes or buying recycled clothes? We’re sharing our favorites in the next section.
Top 14 Ethical Brands Recycling Clothes
Forget about fast fashion, these are our favorite sustainable and ethical brands with innovative recycling programs. We give you not only 1 or 2, but 14 brands! Some can even help you repair your clothes, buy your old clothes back, or recycle into new ones.
1) Girlfriend Collective
Girlfriend Collective launched ReGirlfriend in 2019. This initiative is powered by SuperCircle and it lets you send in your used clothes from any brand and turn them into a solid new one with their compression and FLOAT fabrics that consist of 90% recycled plastic bottles (RPET).
Not only that, but they also have Girlfriend to Girlfriend, which lets buyers shop for used Girlfriend Collective apparel and lets you sell your pre-loved Girlfriend attire.
They also offer $10 credit for any Girlfriend Collective clothes you recycleโฆ you go Girlfriend Collective!
2) Patagonia
Patagonia ensures customers that any worn-out Patagonia attire can be repaired or recycled, even their natural rubber wetsuits. All you need to do is to send them to Patagonia directly. If you want less hassle, you can also drop them off at any Patagonia store!
Patagonia also has their WornWear program. WornWear allows you to buy used Patagonia pieces or even trade yours!
3) Outerknown
You can buy and sell pre-loved Outerknown apparel right on Outerknownโs website! Outerknown aims to solidify their circular fashion so none of their attire goes to landfill.
To sell your pre-loved Outerknown, you must make sure that your Outerknown is gently worn and in good condition. They must be washed and in next-to-new condition without any noticeable wear and tear.
4) Taylor Stitch
Taylor Stitch can replace or repair your used Taylor Stitch gear. Your ripped Taylor Stitch will be replaced with a new one and recycled into a new piece. With the repair and restitch program, they aim to reduce waste and ensure their collections last longer.
You can find the guide to repair your Taylor Stitch on their website.
5) Thousand Fell
Get yourself thousands of benefits from recycling any used Thousand Fell. Thousand Fell accepts any items in any condition, as long as you wash them first.
The Recycle and Earn program is powered by SuperCircle. You can earn up to $20 store credit for any Thousand Fell item you send and $5 for other brands. Who would have thought that recycling could be this profitable?
6) Nudie Jeans
Time to turn those landfills naked with Nudie Jeans. Nudie Jeans has a repair program that can help you with repairing your jeans, and whatโs more, your jeans come with a free repair forever policy! You can repair them in their repair shop, which is available in many countries, from Australia and Thailand to the Netherlands, to the USA!
Canโt repair them? They recycle both conventional cotton and organic cotton jeans, to keep the circularity running. All you need to do is to bring them to the repair shop! In 2022, Nudie Jeans got 20,227 pairs of their jeans back to be recycled.
7) Subset
Don’t throw your old thongs in the trash, Subset can handle that for you. Subset has a recycling program powered by SuperCircle.
By sending Subset your old undies, they will turn them into new materials like carpet padding and furniture batting. You can get a $15 credit towards your next purchase by recycling.
8) Astor & Orion
Astor and Orion’s circular design does the unthinkable! They designed their jewelry thoroughly so they could make use of recycled materials better. They ensure the use of environmentally friendly materials and processes to provide a safer workplace for the smiths.
If you want to recycle your jewelry, email them and tell them what you would like to send. Through a metal recycling facility in Seattle, Astor and Orion will then mold your old jewelry into a new piece. If you live in the United States, it helps them to mitigate their carbon footprint too, since you don’t need to send them abroad!
9) Nisolo
Nisolo provides you with their elegant yet eco-conscious shoes. They approach sustainability with a recycling and reselling program which is assisted by the Nashville-based organization, Soles4Souls.
Nisolo sells its flawed or pre-loved products cheaply and recycles them with the shoe reclamation program. 7,052 pairs of used shoes have been salvaged or donated with the product reclamation program, and on average 2.350 pairs a year have been saved from landfills or incinerators.
You can also receive $40-50 credit after recycling, neat offer, isn’t it?
10) Tentree
Recycling your clothes is made ten times better with Tentree and SuperCircle. With SuperCircle, Tentree launched their circularity program in 2022, which lets you repair and recycle any attire.
The program helps Tentree to recycle any worn clothes from any brands, from hats to bags, from undies to socks. All you need to do is to send them, without any extra charge. You can get store credits too if you participate in their program.
11) Cotopaxi
Cut the outdoor hassle with Cotopaxi. Cotopaxi uses repurposed materials to manufacture their fancy products, but thereโs more to it than just that.
Cotopaxiโs Guaranteed for Good policy allows you to repair, replace, credit your return, or reward you for trading your Cotopaxi. Cotopaxiโs Gear for Good program helps you to re-sell your preloved Cotopaxi and buy other pre-loved Cotopaxi. This program also lets you recycle your old Cotopaxi into a new one.
12) MUD Jeans
Say bye to muddy worn-out jeans with MUD Jeans.
MUD Jeans can take back your old MUD Jeans and recycle them into new ones. Every pair of MUD Jeans will be recycled into one new pair to ensure the circularity of their products. The process uses 92% less water and leaves zero waste.
They also have a lease a jeans program that gives you the option to rent your jeans instead of buying them. All you need to do is to pay the fee for 12 months of the lease.
13) Teemill
Teemill is committed to creating a sustainable circular economy with its recycling program and sustainability initiatives. All their products are created using 100% organic cotton and their processing facilities use renewable energy like solar power.
Teemill has the Remill program that lets you donate your old tees to be recycled into new ones. This Program is powered by Rapanui. You can also get credits for your next custom purchase.
14) OSOM
OSOM dreams of reducing waste and pollution with their clothing recycling program. Supported by Clothes Cycle, OSOM has a yearly subscription program for their recycled attire. All you need is to fill 3 boxes with your old clothes and use their pre-paid label to send those back to them.
Looking for More Top Ethical Brands?
Looking for more brands with recycling programs? Then look no further than Eco-Stylist! We offer over 100 great sustainable brands with clothes and shoes that are all responsibly sourced, with recycled and sustainable materials!
From shiny shoes to stylish suits, itโs all made from safe natural materials with the planet in mind. Check out our shop to get started and start making a difference with each purchase.
Nanda is an Indonesian freelance writer, content maker, and blogger, specializing in sustainable fashion, art, music, literature, and entertainment.
