Green Notes: Recycling old clothes to make way for new duds

November 17, 2008 by Courtney Waldron 

Running late to class one morning, I darted around collecting the essentials: books, class notes, a jacket and the warm coffee tumbler safely keeping that substance essential to such mornings.

With my arms full of academic paraphernalia, I managed to squat down to tell my dog Charlie, “I’m sorry, I don’t have time to give you any belly rubs.” I gave him a quick elbow pat instead. As I extended my knees up and out of my puppy-level position, my jeans ripped.

I froze mid-extension, half bent over and wide eyed, looking downward to see the jeans torn along the inseam from my knee up to my thigh – the most inappropriate way for a pair of pants to tear.  

“Don’t say anything, Charlie,” I warned as I set down the heap in my hands to take off the indiscreet apparel and rushed to my closet for another pair of jeans.  Not wanting to throw the ripped jeans away, I folded them and put them on my closet floor until I could figure out what to do with them later.  

Weeks later, they were still there. I just didn’t know what to do with them.  They were irreparable, finished, but I didn’t want to chuck them in the garbage.  What is one supposed to do with such an obscenely ripped pair of pants?

The easiest way to recycle torn clothing is to get rid of it like un-torn clothing – donate it.  Charities and thrift stores will sell the clothes you don’t wear anymore, but if parts of your wardrobe are torn and not wearable, they will often send the fabric to textile banks that can recycle the material. So to recycle the fabric in a tragically torn pair of jeans, just put it in your Goodwill bag with all the other clothes you’re taking out of your closet.

The clothes that are in sellable condition will be used to raise money for charities, aid domestic and international families and for many other good causes.  

When I’m feeling thrifty I like to trade in my old wearable clothes for “new” old ones.  The most convenient and hip place for UNLV students to do this is Buffalo Exchange, on the corner of Maryland Parkway and Flamingo Road.  Here you can bring in the fashions you’ve grown tired of wearing and exchange them for other vintage fashions.  (You can also sell them for cash, but you’ll get more for your money if you agree to a trade.)  Employees will only buy clothes they think will sell, so plan on donating the rest.   

According to an employee at the Buffalo Exchange, the store is currently looking for fall and winter clothing: men’s and women’s jeans and pants; fall dresses and fabrics with autumn colors.  (You can always call ahead as the seasons change to find out what kinds of clothes they’re buying.)

You can also do this on a smaller scale by having a swishing party, a concept stemming from the United Kingdom. It works much like a white elephant for fashion. Guests to swishing parties bring at least one article of good fashion with them, and all the items are displayed for people to peruse.  Then, at the start of the swish, guests are “let loose” to take what they want.  You can view the rules and download invitations at swishing.org.  

Being reasonably conscientious about how you buy, wear and sell your clothes is important to a green lifestyle, for clothing production and waste accounts for a lot of the greenhouse gases warming the earth.  Wool and cotton in landfills produce methane gas, 23 times stronger in its contribution to global warming than carbon dioxide, according to a BBC News “Bloom” blog in April.  (“Bloom” at bbc.co.uk/bloom/ is a great source for learning more about climate change and what you can do to go green.) Spending a little more money on clothing that will last longer also delays the day you have to go through this entire process of figuring out how to recycle a torn piece of clothing.   

So instead of letting those torn pants and ripped sweaters sit awkwardly in your closet or (worse) make it to the garbage, just recycle them.  Just like tree hugging in the 1960s, being green is a fashion statement.

To find the closest Goodwill, visit locator.goodwill.org.  Other charities to consider are Safe Nest and Catholic Charities.

ON THE WEB:

Goodwill: www.goodwill.org