If you’re serious about greening your lifestyle then greening your wardrobe needs to be part of that plan. This is one are of your life that is surprisingly simple to green. In fact, you may already be doing it without realizing that you are!
With spring coming up right around the corner, this is the perfect time to start working on your Spring Cleaning and weed out all the clothes, shoes and accessories you don’t need anymore. There’s nothing unusual about doing this and many of us do it if not every year, then at least every now and then. But did you know that recycling your clothing is one of the easiest ways to green your wardrobe?
The idea behind recycling in the larger sense is to breakdown items whose useful life has ended and re-use their raw materials or components to create new, similar or totally different items. Recycling clothes can be the same – i.e. tear it apart and collect all the pieces that could be re-used for something else like buttons, lace trim, fabric, zippers, snaps, etc. Well that can work out great if you’re a seamstress or have a seamstress in your life, but most of us don’t have the time, presence of mind, or money to consider recycling at that level.
So another way to look at recycling is to find a way for other people to re-use your clothes. This can be accomplished by donating your old clothes to disaster relief organizations or charities, or by placing them in consignment shops. In the former case, your donations will not only ensure that your clothes get a second life but will also have immediate and meaningful impact either by clothing those in dire need or by providing additional revenue streams to fund the work of the nonprofits who re-sell your clothes through their thrift stores. In the case of Goodwill Industries, one of the largest non-profits that do this, their stores also offer job opportunities to the unemployed and homeless. And because they sell lightly used clothes at substantial discounts, your donation also offers people on low or tight budgets the opportunity to acquire quality clothes at an affordable price. The ripple effect can be huge!
Do you recycle clothes by donating them to charities or disaster relief? If so, what organizations are the ones you most often or prefer to donate to?
So what are these vendors selling that people are clamoring for? Mainly clothes made from renewable resources and natural fibers like hemp and organic cotton, silk, and soy; clothes made from fabrics whose color comes from natural pigments (non-chemical dyes); and clothes that Fair-Trade source.
