Fashion is one of the largest industries in the world; it’s huge in the economy, social settings–and in pollution. When thinking about how quickly recent trends have cycled through it’s not surprising to note how much waste this business creates. Especially within the last decade, people have been completely scraping their wardrobes in favor of the newest and hottest things. A study from the UN Alliance for Sustainable Fashion says that people now buy sixty percent more clothing than they did 15 years ago, and discard it at a faster rate. This fact–combined with the knowledge that around 70% of clothes are sent to landfills or are burnt up–asks a question; What is the alternative?

Recent interest in second-hand clothes, showcase the most popular way to reduce fashion pollution and fabric waste. While this “recycles” the fabric by giving it to a new wearer, there is a method of genuinely turning ruined or old clothes into a completely new roll of fabric. Textile recycling is a process that aims to reduce the pollution caused by clothes made of specific, natural fabrics. 

To understand this process of how old clothes can become fresh fabric that is ready to be sewed up into something new, we have to look at the process of turning any fibers into clothing. Cotton, for example, is a good example of how most fabrics are made. After the cotton is harvested from the plant, it is sent to a cotton factory to be cleaned. It is then converted into yarns that are woven together to create fabric. This process is almost identical to the recycling process. When clothes are recycled, they are first sorted by material, color or other physical traits. They are then mechanically shredded into small fibers and then respun into yarns then are spun into fabric again.

However, the reason textile recycling isn’t the cure all problem is because the fashion industry tends to mix other chemicals into their fabrics that aren’t able to undergo the recycling process. While this is a very viable option for 100% natural-made clothes–and should encourage consumption of natural products–it doesn’t account for the majority of clothes that include polymers and other chemicals. 

In the end, it comes to responsible consumer choices. With the BBC estimating that we’ll have doubled our rate of buying clothes by 2030, we need to place more thought into the purchases we make. If textile recycling holds appeal to you, then shopping within natural fabrics is your solution! However, for all people that will see the rapid fashion trends in the future, keep the idea of responsible consumerism in mind. 

Sources:

treehugger.com/textile-recycling-5203438

bbc.com/future/article/20200710-why-clothes-are-so-hard-to-recycle

unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/un-alliance-sustainable-fashion-addresses-damage-fast-fashion

globalfashionagenda.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Pulse-of-the-Fashion-Industry_2017.pdf