8 (More) Tips for a Zero Waste Wardrobe
With 6,000kg of clothing and textiles discarded every 10 minutes in Australia alone, there’s a huge potential for us to reduce our waste when it comes to our wardrobes. Last week I talked about how we can make better wardrobe purchases. This week I’m going to talk about the other end of the spectrum: what do to with the clothing we no longer need or want, without sending it to landfill.
1. Donate or Sell Clothes You Don’t Wear
Take it from someone who let unworn clothing sit in her wardrobe for years: if you don’t wear it, donate it. If it was expensive and you feel guilty about wasting your money, sell it to alleviate some of the guilt.
Unworn clothing is not serving any purpose languishing in the back of the wardrobe.
Things sitting unworn deteriorate, get moth eaten and are a waste of resources. Whilst it’s sitting there someone else could be wearing it and loving it. Give them the chance to do so, and make the best use of the time, energy and resources that went into creating that item.
2. Learn Simple Clothing Fixes
I don’t know how to sew particularly well or use a sewing machine competently, but I have mastered a couple of basics.
Firstly, I do know how to darn. It’s simple, therapeutic and has saved many a jumper and sock of mine from landfill.
Natural fibres do have a tendency to develop holes, so knowing how to stitch them back up again is helpful to extend the life of things.
I’m not going to give a tutorial here because I’m no expert, but the principle is making a little cross-weave of thread across the hole. Sew strands up and down first, and then from left to right weaving under and over the other strands. (PS my darning mushroom is an orange. Does the job.)
Similarly, I know how to stitch a button or popper back on. Another very simple thing to do. I’ve purchased shirts from the charity shop that have likely been donated because a button was missing. An easy fix. I’ve also had buttons come off in action.
If I lose the button and there’s no spare, I move a button from the pocket or the very top (which I don’t use) to replace the spot where I need the button.
I purchased this shirt from the charity shop which had obviously been donated because one of the poppers was deformed. I simply stitched a new one on, and I had an almost new shirt.
If you’re a total newbie and/or the idea of attempting a mend on your own stresses you out, Repair Cafes and other community sewing groups exist. Here you can find sewing repair tutorials, where you can learn to fix your stuff for free (or low cost) with the help of someone who actually knows what they are doing.
3. Pay a Professional to Fix Your Clothing
If you don’t know how to fix something, and have no inclination to learn, find someone who does. My boots have fallen to pieces more times than I care to count (actually, I think they’ve been repaired 4 times).
I have no idea how to fix shoes, but luckily for me there is an awesome shoe repair service at the local shopping centre.
Over the years my boots have needed resoling, restitching, reheeling, reglueing, a toecap put in and a zipper replaced. But every time they come back good as new, and for much less than the cost of a new pair of boots.
I’ve also used a mending service to fix buttons back onto jeans (I think they need a special tool: it definitely isn’t a sewing job).
4. Repurpose Fabric
There’s a whole step between stopping wearing clothing, and tossing it out. Repurposing.
Clothing rarely disintegrates entirely; it tends to wear in certain spots. A pair of jeans might wear through at the bum, crotch and knees but the legs are often fine. A dress might wear out at the armpits or sleeves but the body is fine.
This is literally the most lazy repurpose in the world – I used the denim from a jeans leg to make an iPad case. I shuffled the iPad down the leg until it fit, then cut the leg just below and stitched the two sides together to make a case. It might look lame, but that was in 2014, and I still have that case. It does the job.
If the material is good quality or hard-wearing, it may be possible to donate to someone crafty to repurpose, or for projects for kids. Whether it’s for recreating into new altered clothing, making hankies, Boomerang bags, fabric bunting, cushion covers or something more creative, people can make good use of old clothing.
Buy Nothing groups are a good place to make inquiries, and Gumtree is a good option to place a free listing.
5. Use Old Natural Fibre Clothing As Rags
When my clothing from natural fibres is life expired, I chop it up to use as cleaning cloths – for the kitchen first and then the bathroom. They can go through the washing machine a few times, before ending up in the compost bin. Zero waste.
I’ve tried this with synthetic fibres but it doesn’t work nearly so well as plastic doesn’t absorb water. Now I stick to only natural ones.
6. Compost Natural Fibres
If your clothing is completely, utterly worn out, and is made entirely of natural fibres, you can compost it or put in a worm farm. If your clothing is part natural fibres, you can put in a worm farm, and the worms will eat the natural part, leaving the synthetic part.
If you don’t have access to textile recycling (or you don’t trust your textile recycling) consider composting your old clothing.
I’m not sure what the etiquette is with donating old underwear for recycling, so I pop in the worm farm. I get left with an elastane shell, and the cotton is recycled into soil. I also use old clothing as a cover for the worm farm. Eventually it breaks down.
7. Donating Clothing to Charity Shops as Rags
Not all charity shops offer this service, but some do – they will take clothing specifically for use as rags. It’s best to call first to find out if this is the case, and they will be able to tell you what they want and what they don’t.
If this is an option for you, be sure to label your donation clearly as “Rags”. This saves someone rummaging through it all and coming to the same conclusion.
8. Donate Worn Synthetic Clothes for Recycling
Worn clothing can be donated for recycling. Increasingly clothing companies and department stores will take back their own brand of clothing for recycling, but a few companies (including Levi Strauss in the US, and H & M worldwide) will take back any brand of clothing.
I take any won out synthetic clothing I have to H&M, because textile recycling is hard to find on Perth (and I want H&M to shoulder some of the responsibility for the excessive textiles problem they have helped create). If you’re lucky, you may have a council collection service or drop-off facility.
Now I’d love to hear from you! What do you do with old unwanted textiles? If you’re creative, how do you repurpose old fabric? Are there any ideas I’ve missed? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Socks also end up as synthetic net after time in my wormy compost. I thought this was a minus but you’re helping me see it as a plus
Sock ghosts in the worm castings, Ann! Better than whole socks in landfill…
I save all of my and my kids unmendable old clothing to make into quilts. One day I’d like to be able to turn this into a business with the idea of making memory quilts for people out of their loved one’s clothing. I know that some of my girls’ baby things make me nostalgic already and my youngest is only 4!
The idea of throwing useable clothes away is so fundamentally wrong in every way. We have always bought our clothes from charity shops: very often like you say, good quality clothes are donated with only tiny flaws so it’s a total win for a low budget. For us to buy new would mean supporting the worst clothing manufacturers because we simply cannot afford high-quality ecologically responsible makers, no matter how much I’d love to.
Hi Chloe, thanks so much for sharing! Firstly that is a wonderful idea :) I’ve seen people turn favourite items of clothing (old t-shirts etc) into cushions and even wall art also.
Second-hand wins for so many reasons and there are so many good quality textiles out there, the idea that second-hand means tatty is totally wrong. If only more people embraced second-hand clothing…
You are the perfect example to show how the world should go…. but for the majority of people the planet is not a place to live …. it’s a rubbish bin. I can’t sleep at night thinking how we made our beautiful home (not only ours….) a giant awful island of plastic, which means killing creatures including ourselves ….and the generations to come. :-(
Aw thank you Rita! I know it is hard when we see all the destruction and disrespect of the planet all over the media. For me, I try not to think too much about that. It is too sad. Instead I just try to keep my focus to what I can do. I’ve definitely seen lots of positive change over the past few years and growing awareness, and that is encouraging :)
A big thank you for sharing your effort for a more sustainable life…. for all of us!
I’ve been stockpiling some worn out clothes to recycle into other things. Have started a crochet rug and am planing on making some CSP’s from some funky legging fabric. Just have to find the time now!
The one thing I do stockpile is old jeans, because I know the denim is still super useful. I have a few projects in mind. I will get there!
I cut up old jeans and made a quilt from them. I no longer buy paper towels, I have cut up cotton pj’s & old t-shirt which I now use instead of paper towels. I have also made tote bags from t shirts. Keep the good work up people.
Such great ideas Evol! If only I were slightly more crafty I’d love to do this. I love the idea, but I know in reality I’d never prioritise my time to do it… Glad that you do!
Kudos to you for your zero waste efforts! Greetings from Canada. I always enjoy learning different terms used in different countries for the same thing. Poppers? There are Jalapeños poppers here, but no shirt poppers. We say snaps or domes. Here people say they are going to the washroom, but my American relatives go to the restroom. There are so many “country & reginal isms”.
I sew, quilt & mend (probably age related) but you would have to drive hundreds of miles searching for a shoe repair still in operation. I’ve made 2 jean quilts. They’re really liked by the family, but it’s tough sewing.
Keep up your effort to show people that there’s another, better way.
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