If you've ever tossed an old piece of clothing because it had a rip or a hole in it, one sustainable fashion advocate is hoping to change your mind.
What's happening?
Mindful fashion educator Andrea Cheong (@andreacheong_) shared a TikTok video where she visited a textile sorting facility.
"What I'm about to show you proves that mending is the biggest f*** you to fast fashion," she begins.
@andreacheong_ Look at what fast fashion has done… made us think that throwing away something with a few holes and buying new is the "easier" choice. #sustainablefashion #textilerecycling ♬ original sound - Andrea
She shows how the enormous warehouse is crammed with floor-to-ceiling pallets of clothing, with workers sorting them for their recycling viability.
"The problem is that so many of these garments were in really good condition anyway," Andrea explains. "Small holes like that are something we could have learned to repair, or pay someone to."
She continues: "Seeing this much on this scale — and this was some random weekday — was quite emotional, because this is something we have control over. If there's anything in the world we have control over, we can learn to do a few stitches."
Why is textile waste so harmful?
The fashion industry, particularly fast fashion, produces a staggering amount of pollution each year.
According to Earth.org, 101 million tons of textile waste — approximately one garbage truck per second — end up in landfills every year. (A large percentage of that actually winds up in the ocean.) When it degrades, this clothing contaminates its environment with microplastics, dyes, and other harmful chemicals that are pervasive in synthetic materials.
This is separate from the vast energy usage, wastewater production, and general pollutive impact that the fashion industry has on the planet. Despite this, consumers continue to buy more clothing — and bafflingly, wear it less. In the U.S. alone, the average consumer throws away over 80 pounds of clothing per year after wearing each item fewer than 10 times.
🗣️ Should it be illegal to throw away old clothes?
🔘 Heck yes 👍
🔘 No way 👎
🔘 I'm not sure 🤷
🔘 Only if it's free to recycle them 🤌
🗳️ Click your choice to see results and speak your mind
"Look at what fast fashion has done," Andrea wrote in the caption. "Made us think that throwing away something with a few holes and buying new is the 'easier' choice."
How can each of us reduce our textile waste footprint?
Thankfully, as Andrea suggests, one of the best ways to remove yourself from this toxic cycle of buying and wasting clothing is to learn how to mend your clothes. Whether you're doing the popular Japanese sashiko technique of visible mending or upcycling something into a new garment, there are countless ways to add both style and function back into a hole-y piece.
"I'm still wearing clothes from 20 years ago," one commenter enthused. "I refashion them to look new."
Another agreed, saying: "Was already committed to learning to mend holes (can already sew just not darn) but da** this is a lot of motivation."
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