So here’s a question that’s been nagging at the back of my brain every time I dig through my “donate” pile and pull out a garment to repurpose into something else: Can we really call that recycling? Don’t get me wrong. I LOVE a refashioning project. I love the thriftiness. I love the innovation. I love the transformational aspect – one thing becoming another as a result of my creative eye and the actions taken by my own hands. Wow.
But just because I’m using an old shirt (or two) to make a garment, that doesn’t necessarily mean I’m recycling. For example, when I made a paneled A-line skirt for my daughter, I used two golf shirts to get the four pie-shaped panels I needed. Due to the shape of the pieces I needed to cut and the shape of the shirts I was cutting them from, I ended up with a LOT of waste. Taking two useful shirts and turning them into one useful skirt – and creating a pile of scrap in the process – doesn’t feel like recycling to me.
On the other hand, if the shirts had holes or stains in them that made them otherwise NOT useful, then taking the two nonuseful shirts and turning them into one useful skirt WOULD be recycling.
In addition to the condition of the garment, we should also pay attention to how useful the garment would be to others in its current state vs. its refashioned state. For example, our church runs a soup kitchen and they often see people who are in need of clothing. Most of their clients are men, which means that I’ll try to avoid using men’s clothes for my refashion projects – unless the clothes are greatly damaged or stained. The shirts are more useful in their current state as clothes for the homeless rather than a new dress for my daughter, whose closet is already stuffed with cute clothes.
On the other hand, our church doesn’t have as much of a need for used women’s clothing. And take a look into any thrift store, and you’ll see that there is an overabundance of used women’s clothing out there already. Because the styles of women’s clothes change so frequently, many people discard women’s clothing simply because they are no longer fashionable. At the thrift stores, these garments are often passed over in preference for trendier garments. In other words, there’s not a high demand for out-of-date women’s clothes. These would be good choices for me to recycle.
Notice I used the word “recycle” just then. If the garment is most likely not useful in its current state, then I think the word “recycle” is appropriate.
Sometimes a perfectly useful garment is ho-hum in one state, but utterly fabulous in another. For example, a long frumpy gathered skirt can be made pinch-me cute by simply shortening it. The garment is useful in both states, but the design is greatly improved as a refashion. Clearly, aesthetics have to come into play as well.
So what does all this mean? I’m not going to stop going to my donate pile for inexpensive material for my sewing projects. On the other hand, I’ll be looking at my source of material with a more critical eye, weighing the usefulness of its current state against the usefulness of the refashioned garment. I’ll also take into account the aesthetics of the current and potential garment.
What are your thoughts? When is it recycling, and when is it repurposing or refashioning? How do you make decisions about what to refashion vs. what to donate?
Most of the clothing I make involved reusing clothes I already have that would have either been thrown away or given away. I see your point about how waste is created, and therefore not exactly “recycled.” When I make projects using old clothing, any material that I don’t use is saved for other projects, for example scraps of knit fabric are refashioned into ties for a sash. There will inevitably be bits that are thrown away, but I don’t feel bad about it because most of the time I’m able to use the majority of a piece of clothing.
I think the terms “upcycling” and “repurposing” are probably better terms to use, because old clothing is being made into something new and useful, rather than recycled in its entirety.
No, it is not recycling. But it is reusing, which is actually higher up the chain in terms of “good”. Reduce, reuse, then recycle. Recycling generally involves changing it’s state entirely- not one shirt to another, but a cotton shirt to fertilizer filler.
I do agree that a better reuse would be to donate useable clothing so it can be worn as is, but if the clothing can’t be reworn in its current state, making it a few of those pieces into a wearable piece of clothing seems to be the least wasteful way to go.
You are worried about the waste created in repurposing your two items to make one. But actual recycling creates a large amount of waste too. It is not a 100% yield situation at all. It is just better than creating from scratch each time.
I’ve pondered the same thing for years and came up with pretty much the same answer as you, only in my mind it wasn’t as elegantly summarized as you have done 🙂 I’m generally recycling the clothing for crafting and quilting projects rather than refashioning for clothing, but my end decision is actually based on what I see in the thrift stores – a plethora of ladies clothing and linens that are highly unlikely to be useful in their current state, but which can provide me with great raw materials for the items that I make. I still feel bad when I reclaim as much denim as I can from my husband and sons’ worn out and stained work jeans but have to trash quite a bit in the end – I’m just not going to use/reuse denim seams and waistbands and pockets and zippers.
I think that anything that is not wanted anymore in its original capacity by its original owner, and is then given new life in any way (either giving to someone else to use in its original state, or cutting it up and making it into something else or sending it to a recycling facility), is recycling.
In your example about using two good shirts to make one skirt, it is still recycling because they weren’t wanted anymore and were on their way to being discarded (not to the landfill but to the thrift store). Maybe your question isn’t “is it really recycling?”, but “is it the best use of these materials?” which is an entirely different issue, and a much more nit-picky kind of thing. I would expand your definition of recycling as reusing a “not useful” item to a “not wanted” item.
Another point: some people make cool projects out of empty used wine bottles. That is a much more efficient use of the material that what I do with it when I throw it in the recycle bin. But both are recycling.
Say those shirts were in good condition, and you donated them. Well, what are the odds that someone that exact size, looking for that exact style of shirt in that exact color is going to find it at the thrift store you donated it to? Maybe not totally unlikely, but still could be a stretch. On the other hand, using it as you did ensured that the materials didn’t go to waste, AND kept you from buying new materials at the fabric store.
Now, scrap saving is a whole different issue too. Some of us have quite a sickness about it (says the gal with four bins of scraps in her studio).
Just some thoughts from someone who cuts up all kinds of unwanted textiles and makes them into new and lovely things!
P.S. In the spirit of using things up, consider saving small scraps to use as stuffing in a really dense pillow or a fun plushie. Just passing my sickness along!
Why not do what I do? Make somethings(s) out of the scraps. I use absolutely everything from a shirt or whatever it is I’m cutting up, and use it for fabric jewelry, pillow stuffing… anything I can possibly think of — nothing goes to waste in my household.
I think you are looking at this all wrong. Re-purposing may not seem as efficient as straight recycling (having someone use the clothing ‘as is’)but it is definitely green and that’s as important considering the waste generated in any project. The textile industry is the NUMERO UNO polluter from the standpoint of chemicals used to grow cotton and linen–not even considering the chemicals in synthetic fabric production. When you buy commercially made fabric you are supporting this industry, along with poor labor practices that often go along with many foreign textile mills. NOW….you can ‘go green’ by buying only organic fabric, but this is often pricey, and selections can be very limited OR you can buy clothing and fabric from thrift stores in which case your purchasing supports local charity, with your $$ often staying right there in your community. Win, win. If you are concerned about the waste, talk to you local thrift store and see if they will take your scraps. The thrift store in my town sells un-saleable clothing by the pound to a third party, which is then recycled–so no waste what-so-ever and the thrift store even makes a few shekels. Phew, sorry to be so long winded.
I have just recently started reusing my clothes that can not be used elsewhere. Making shorts from pants that had a hole in the knee. Plan on using pants that my son markered all over for a bag or water bag or maybe even something else. I do go to a local thrift store on 99cent day and get large mens pants for 99cents each rather than buying material at the fabric store to make into pants, shorts or a skirt. My son has a Thomas shirt that I plan making a bag or backpack out of. I never once thought about using things that I cant otherwise wear or my kids can’t wear. I would much rather pay 1.08 for material I can make pants or shorts from rather than pay 10+ a yard. I not only get the material, but possibly elastic and a zipper, maybe buttons. I have many pairs of pants lying around now, just have to repurpose them for a different size boy, lol.
Hi, re your offcuts,i recently became aware of a project run here in South Africa for using off cuts and overlocker edges etc,to make beds/cushions for animal rescue organisations.What you do is make a big pillowcase/square,leaving one edge open, all your fabric off cuts, when cutting from lengths of fabric and repurposeing,hemming garments etc then get thrown into the cushion/bag as opposed to the bin, when they are nice and fat and full you simply stitch up the last side.We have a quilting store that we drop off the cushions at and when there are enough the animal rescue organisations collect them.I think its brilliant, what would have been binned is now used for a fabulous purpose.Perhaps it could inspire others out there to do the same?
Tienes mucha razon una cosa es reciclar y otra transformar.
Se recicla las cosas que perjudican al planeta y al medio ambiente.
Se transforma las cosas en desuso para economizar. Pienso que las donaciones se deben hacer con cosas nuevas, las viejas si para reciclar.
Besos
You have much reason to recycle is one thing and another transform.
It recycles things that harm the planet and the environment.
It becomes obsolete things to economize. I think that donations should be made with new things, whether to recycle the old.
kisses
Translations by Mr.Google
Our local thrift shop sells the clothes that are stained or torn (or even fabric scraps) to a company that shreds them and uses them as stuffing for a variety of things. So, even if you repurpose two good shirts into one skirt with a lot of left over scraps, they can still be recycled. So there you have the best of both worlds. lol
If you have the chance to check out homemaking books from the late 1800s to early 1900s, you’ll see what they used to do with *their* fabric scraps:
Cleaning cloths
Headcoverings
Strips got tied together for floor mops
and, of course, Quilts
This is harder to do with most artificial fibers, but still possible.
I get a lot of my “raw materials” from local charity shops. But not off the racks. I ask if they have any T-shirts in the back for rags. I’ll usually get a Santa Claus sized bag of miscellaneous clothing, sheets, curtains, tablecloths, and T shirts that look like they’ve never been used (sometimes with tags on) for a few GBP. I call that recycling because, although the fabrics weren’t going to a landfill, how many rags are really needed? The shops, for whatever reasons, have already determined the clothes are not useful in their current state, so I feel guilt-free turning them into shopping bags, fabric gift bags, whatever.