What Happens to My Clothes Next?
My process for redirecting used garments and textiles
Hello there!
First of all, Happy Lunar New Year for those celebrating! May the Year of Wood Dragon bring you an abundance of good fortune, creativity, and wholesome transformation. As part of my family’s tradition, we are encouraged to leave the bad luck of yesteryear by discarding one set of old clothes. So I thought, might as well do a closet audit!
For the good part of last month, I was doing an inventory audit of my wardrobe and fabric stash. It felt great, because 99% of the time, I have so many clothes and fabrics in my possession. Way more than my individual capacity to create or repair with them. Reimagine, repair, or refashion all I want, the truth is I most likely do not need any more fabric or clothes in this lifetime for my personal use.
Do I want to, though? Of course I do!
Knowing the challenges about textile waste, however, it doesn’t make sense to shamelessly throw bags of used garments to donation centers and call it a day. It’s well-documented that only 10 - 20% of them actually got sold and the rest most likely gets exported overseas. After all, the US is the no.1 global exporter of secondhand clothings.
Globally, 92 million tons of textile waste are generated yearly (an equivalent of one dump truck load every second, every day). Less than 1% of clothes gets recycled (i.e. fiber-to-fiber recycling), and this percentage couldn’t budge regardless of recycling technology advancements. Current available methods struggle with mixed fabrics, dyes, and complex blends, making true recycling often impossible. Worse yet, the idea of recycling is arguably an enabler for the disposable clothing economy!
On this issue, I want to encourage you to not take your garments and textiles for granted, let alone discard them without much thought. In this issue, I’m going to share my current process of deciding where my garments and textiles go when:
I still like them, but they have issues
I no longer love them
I’m downsizing (garments + fabric stash)
As much as I am able, I do my best to keep them away from landfill. That said, sometimes I can’t prevent them from going to the garbage bin, where they will eventually get burned or landfilled. But the chance of that happening is very minimal.
I’m fully aware that my methods are in no way ideal, but hopefully you can get some sparks of inspiration on how you can start having your end-of-use process or fine-tune your current process.
Case #1: I still like them, but they have issues
Don’t we all have issues? Ha. Thankfully, the so-called “issues” on the garments I still love are usually fixable.
Got stains?
Stain removal methods to the rescue! Stopwaste.org has a pretty handy fact sheet for stain removal, while Wellness Mama has a great guide to laundry so your clothes can stay more pristine for longer.
Sometimes I get vintage clothes with dry set stain, and I would use either Oxy clean overnight soak and/or treatments with Retro Wash - Retro Clean combo. Works like a charm so far!
When the stain removal treatments are done, I happily fold and put them back in my wardrobe.
Got tears or holes?
That usually means I wear them a great deal and there are weak seams and tension areas to be examined. Most of the time, the overall garment quality is still good and the item can be repaired.
For garments with weak seams and small holes, I separate them into a to-be-repaired pile. Favorite items that are worn often that season will get first priority, whereas out-of-season items have to be more patient. Generally my to-be-repaired pile depletes and replenishes within 3 months or less.
Most of my repair works involve applying an interfacing to reinforce the weak seam area plus machine stitching. If I want to get a little fancy (and only if the time allows), then I do hand stitching or embroidery instead. Very rarely do I have the time to do an elaborate visual mending seen on the accidental boro shirt. For hole fixing, my favorite method is doing a series of blanket stitches.
Check out Stopwaste.org to see common fixes you can do yourself!
If you live in Alameda County, Contra Costa County, and the City of Palo Alto in San Francisco Bay Area, California, Stopwaste.org also has a handy RE:Source guide about where to hand over used items responsibly.
Got fitting issues?
Many of my refashion projects are born here. Clothes that I still love but there’s something that doesn’t fit quite right. Sometimes a relatively simple alteration would do, but most of them require deconstruction, redesign, and reconstruction that involves extra fabrics. The result? One-of-a-kind garments (like the first picture you see above) that will stay in my wardrobe for a long, long time.
Case #2: I no longer love them
When I fall out of love with clothes, it’s due to one of three things: color, fit, or style. I used to have such a hard time letting go of clothes, thinking too many scenarios of what-ifs. My tipping point was in 2013, when I did the Konmari method for the first time. I was astonished to see a big pile of tops on my apartment’s living room, most of them unworn or still have their tags on. From then on, I promised myself: never again. You either purchase something you really love. No maybes or what-ifs.
Time goes by, and our physiques change. What I used to love then won’t fit now. I know colors that flatter me better. I moved on from certain styles. The reasons for falling out of love go on and on, and that’s alright. We make clothes work for our well-being, not the other way around.
If they are still in like new condition,
and especially if they are from desirable high-end brands, I will first try to sell them on Poshmark. I chose that platform because I prefer to direct the sales proceeds to my bank account, not spend them on new things. Now I’m also entertaining Facebook Marketplace for home goods and clothing items. That’s the only two I can manage right now. I’m not terribly active but I’m patient enough to find a good buyer.
If they are still in good condition and color is the only thing that bothers me,
then I would assess and mail my things to Suay LA so they can be dyed a different color! Four times already, I mailed in clothes and home linens to Los Angeles so they can join other clothes and textiles in Suay’s Community Dye Bath program.
Here’s an example: a long shirt dress from Uniqlo that initially arrived in light yellow. It was way too light for me, but I love the versatility of a light coat for layering. When I got it back from Suay last year, it’s reborn with a rose tie-dye color that I absolutely love. To this date, I have worn it 3 times before winter set in.
But when I really don’t love them anymore and they are in good condition,
then I offer them to my local Buy Nothing groups. Depending on your neighborhood, you may or may not have a Buy Nothing group already. I happen to live in a very active, supportive community, and I’m really grateful for that.
I’d take one or two pictures of the garment to be given away, plus general measurements (or size at the very least). When I post it on my local Buy Nothing group, I’d also write a short description, mention any imperfections if there’s any, and let my post simmer for at least a day or more. 85% of the time, I’d be able to find good new owners for my used clothes.
Case #3: I’m downsizing.
Because I rarely purchase new clothes, downsizing opportunities happen more often with my fabric stash. These days, I get fabric influx at least 3 times a year. So to maintain a manageable amount of fabrics in my possession at all times, I downsize my fabrics 3 - 4 times a year.
Once again, I rely on my Buy Nothing groups to redistribute the fabrics. I’d take good overall and closeup pictures of them, mention their dimensions and fiber content, and let my posts simmer for some time. So far, I have always managed to find good homes for them to pass to. They range from neighbors who are looking for specific types of fabric, neighbors who are doing community projects, people who just started to learn how to sew, and others who’d like to use them as backdrops or table covers!
Wait, what if there are no takers?
It’s possible that after several posts in Buy Nothing group, there are no takers for some garments. When that happens, I start collecting them in a paper bag and add to them as they go.
When I have enough, I contact local shelters or local non-profits (women’s, veterans, cancer treatment centers, church groups, or nursing homes) to see if they have any interests in taking them. Check your area’s community resources; they tend to be specific about which items they are looking for.
So there you have it! That’s my process for redirecting used clothes and textiles. I hope that’s helpful for some of you. My local neighborhood has an abundance of channels to redirect used textiles, so I seldom go to Goodwill or thrift stores because of it.
My local municipality also holds curbside textile recycling collections twice a year. So if I could not secure shelter or non-profit recipients, I have this option. They are said to go to St. Vincent de Paul of Lane County and Recycle for Change, although I have yet to confirm it myself. But I believe they are really going to be redistributed to people in need instead of being landfilled, so I make sure that the textiles I give away for recycling are never in poor condition.
If you are in California and your local municipality also holds curbside textile recycling, you must remember one thing: NEVER PUT TEXTILES IN YOUR RECYCLING BIN.
During Fibershed’s 2023 Symposium, Joanne Brasch of California Product Stewardship Council said, “Every time [textiles are put in recycling bins], they tangle up the [industrial] machine. It costs your city about $50,000 to stop the machine, cut the textiles and plastic bags out of the cog wheels.”
This issue is part of the reason why textiles are the fastest growing material in California’s waste stream in the last 5 - 10 years.
What about the rest?
Let’s see…Torn rags or soiled scraps go straight to the trash bin, which is most likely landfilled or incinerated. Sizeable fabric scraps and remnants don’t leave my sewing studio, as I can use them for future projects. This is part of why I do fabric audits 4 times a year!
I don’t do those clothing collection bins that tend to be an unsupervised catch-all that provides a false sense of relief. Even a so-called “Use It Again” program in El Cerrito specifically said “donations are primarily sent abroad.” After reading that, my mind immediately goes to Dead White Man’s Clothes.
You might notice that I did not mention clothing swap. While I love the idea - hello, Lucky Sweater, I just haven’t done it as much. When I want to give things away, I don’t want to get “new” items in return. That need usually comes at another time.
However, the shifting trends toward secondhand clothing and circular economy models are encouraging. More brands are exploring take-back programs, recycling programs - hello, For Days’ Take Back Bags, clothing rentals, and upcycling initiatives to keep garments in use longer.
Biotech innovations in materials and recycling are also very exciting. Companies like Unspun explore at-scale manufacturing through their Vega™ technology, whereas companies like Refiberd explore AI in sorting technology to chase the ultimate goal to successfully recycle all textiles, regardless of fiber blend.
Bio-based and/or biodegradable textile innovations are blossoming more than ever, as well. Companies like Modern Meadow - I had the pleasure of interviewing their CEO Catherine Roggero-Lovisi last month - have expanded our horizon and made us anticipate what’s next. As a textile lover and designer, I would LOVE to get access to biodegradable textiles and make prototypes with them. That’s something I’m currently doing with Fibershed Design Challenge, working with regionally grown, compostable textiles. I hope to have more opportunities like this in the near future.
NEXT ISSUE (February 24, 2024): Using AI to take wardrobe inventory + get outfit recommendations
At the beginning of this issue, I mentioned doing an inventory audit of my wardrobe. Well, recently, I started learning more in-depth about Prompt Engineering. As my first project, I decided to create a simple wardrobe entry system with an AI chatbot. I then use the chatbot to spit out outfit recommendations based on my recorded wardrobe entries.
In achieving this, I do not take one single photo. I intentionally seek for a solution that can help me achieve my personal goal of documenting the wardrobe the fastest. Taking photos of every single item does not work for me, and this method does the job. Want to know the details of how I recorded more than 245 items in a few hours and get viable outfit recommendations? Stay tuned for the next issue!
Thanks for reading; until next time,
Mira Musank