Recycling old clothes: What to do with old clothes that cannot be donated.

When I keep aside my recently bought top that I do not like anymore, and go on to buy another one or many more, should I be concened about the carbon footprint I am leaving behind or the fashion industry which benefits from my money ? I really do not know!. But I do realize that I can do my bit by donating old clothes and recylcing the clothes that cannot be donated .

Fashion results in a colossal waste that is fast becoming a major problem (if it is not already!). I read this article that says that 100 billion garments are produced by the fashion industry every year. Where do they go after their use is over?

Donate them

The first choice is to donate the old clothes; this way, someone else can avoid buying the same thing at exalted prices.

Residential associations, Local schools and churches often hold clothing donation drives – keep your old clothes, clean and neatly folded to give away. Some online sites and facebook groups also take old clothes for charity purposes.

But what to do with Un-donateable Clothes?

Still Donate them!

A lot of donation centers may not take your clothes if they are too worn, faded, distressed etc. But! Some local places may accept clothes in any condition. They either recycle the fabric or use the clothes for industrial rags. You will have to ask around for places like this.

Try other ideas

The above picture is a tshirt of mine from H&M made from recycled cotton. This is possible because many retailers, including H&M, offer rewards for clothing recycling. These stores may offer rewards or store credit as incentives for donating your old clothes.

Host a garage sale where you can sell or even barter your old clothes for something useful.

Hold a Clothing Swap party with your friends

Someone might find a use for that old spandex shirt you do not want any more as a bike seat cover, who knows?. Maybe you can barter your old clothes for something useful from your friends. A sewing friend may need the material from your old scarf.

Look for Recycling Programs in your locality.

They may have ideas for what to do with your old clothes. Some municipalities may have a textile recycling program where bins are specifically designated for textile waste. Make use of them rather than contributing to landfill waste.

You can also consider donating it to local groups that make charity quilts or some such projects.

If you have excess fabrics (This is understandable only by crafters and sewists who hoard fabric like it is going out of stock (Me included)), schools are a great place to donate fabric. Departments teaching subjects like Fashion, Art, and Child Development often have limited budgets and can make good use of your materials.

On social media platforms like facebook there are fabric destash groups. You can buy, sell, or trade your fabric collections here. And eg. of such groups is Roberta’s Fabric destash. If you think you might have vintage fabric, Google Lens and Etsy are good platforms for price comparisons.

RECYCLE, UPCYCLE OR REPURPOSE

Recycling, Upcycling or repurposing are what you and I could do to take care of the textile burden for the world already reeling under the burden of many other wastes like plastic, electronics, etc.

Recycling involves breaking down an item into its raw materials, which are then used to create new products. Making t-shirt yarn from old tshirts and making a rug with it is recycling.
Upcycling adds value by transforming or reinventing an item while retaining its original form to some extent. Changing the look of my denim jacket with paint and fabric collage is an upcycling project.
Repurposing involves using an item for a purpose different from its original intended use, without significantly altering its form. Making shorts from my jeans is an example of repurposing.

These are all terms used for re-using old clothes in ways other than what they were intended to be. Here are some easy ways to prepare your old clothes to be reused.

Old clothes can serve as excellent materials for DIY projects. Need to patch up a pair of jeans? Use fabric from an old, ripped shirt.

What to reuse or recycle?

Everything including old footwear and socks have recycling potential. Some people use yarn from old sweaters and scarves as raw materials to make new knitting products. They know easy ways to take out the yarn without breaking.

Fabrics salvaged from old clothes, from old home linen can be used to sew new clothes. If you have a large project, you can ask your friends and relatives for old clothes. Or salvage from charity shops and jumble sales. Damaged clothes can be cut up to take out useful parts.

You can isolate embellishments like bows, beads, ribbons, buttons etc., from old clothes and keep them in a separate box for making fabric art or embellishing your recycled projects. Damaged or too-small clothes of kids are prime for recycling – even if the fabric is too flimsy to be re-used, these haberdashery items can be recycled for your recycled projects as well as for your new sewing projects.

Silk ties are great for making many things like woven rags, fabric belts. T-shirt quilts are made out of good designs cut out from old t-shirts.

representative image of what you can do with old tshirts

How to salvage fabric from old clothes for recycling

Cut off all the trimmings and haberdashery items for later use. Remove the fasteners as well, if they are in good condition.

Remove collars, hems, etc., which are not needed. Remove the waistbands and the front fly in case of jeans and pants (unless you want to keep them for your recycling project)

Cutting long fabric strips

You can keep some of the seams where necessary. For, e.g., there is a way of cutting fabric strips from tubular clothes like T-shirts and skirts, bodices, and old bags. This method gives you long continuous strips of fabric. It goes like this –

First cut off the bottom edge and the top edge (of the t-shirt or bag or dress, whatever you have).

Cut the tube vertically from one of the side seams – do not cut the top seam. Leave 1 or 2 inches there un cut.

Open up the tube so that the uncut seam is open in front of you.

Mark diagonally between the cut lines as in the picture below.

Cut along the marked lines.

You will get a long line of continuous yarn this way.

If you have a lot of these bags or old t-shirts, you can make a lot of long fabric strips. You can make them into rag rugs like this.

Checkout the best way to make yarn from old t-shirts.Find the tutorial for making a rag rug here.

Quilting and patchwork are age old crafts – the best ways to recycle old clothes. Here is a tutorial on this site to make blanket with patchwork pieces from old clothes.

I made a haori jacket and even a blanket from these fabric pieces (all remnants from my other projects)

Alter and repair old clothes

Do not throw away clothes just because they have a small flaw or fitting problem. Repair and alter. You can find some tutorials here

What to do with clothes and fabric pieces that cannot be reused?

Now what to do? Landfill ?
Before they are dumped into the landfill, there are many questions to ask – Are they all made of materials which are bio-degradable (cotton, linen etc that dissolve into soil) or do they remain in the soil polluting the earth for years to come?

Compost them

You can do this with biodegradable natural materials like cotton, silk or wool. Yes, they’ll go back to the soil and enrich it. Remember, synthetic fabrics like polyester, nylon and spandex cannot be composted.

If you are passionate about sustainable fashion and clothing choices, you can still come up with more brilliant ways to recycle old clothes.

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