Patched! ‘How do I get rid of clothes that aren’t recyclable or mendable?’

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What is Patched?

Patched is a members-only series where people can ask me a fashion (or fashion-adjacent) question that's bothering them, and I will reply with a short letter from an anti-capitalist perspective.

Got a question? Email me: DearPatched@proton.me

The title Patched is a reminder that at this critical time we need repair and regeneration as well as analysis. I will keep unpicking and unravelling the fashion industry but Patched makes space to explore mending - finding solutions to both personal and structural problems.

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I don't want to add to the mountains of textile waste

Hi Tansy,

My question pertains to clothes that I can see are getting old.

I don’t mean clothes someone might actually appreciate finding second hand or the things I can mend. But for example some polyester biker shorts that I’ve had for so many years that they start becoming a different colour and the elasticity is giving in. Or a pair of socks where I would have to stitch up an entire heel to wear it again because it’s been used thin.

Perhaps it’s a silly question, but after seeing mountains and mountains of clothes ending up around the world in other people’s lands who never asked for my old clothes to come there in the first place, I wish there was a way I could simply make it disappear myself. How do you go about getting rid of clothes that simply aren’t recyclable or mendable?

I understand one way of wasting less is buying better quality clothing, but with the items I have from before I learned of the atrocities of the fast fashion industry, I don’t know what to do with.

Thank you, The confused waster

Dear Confused Waster,

This is a great question - highly relevant and not silly at all.

I had a similar dilemma a while back. For me it was specifically what to do with a swimming costume that I'd had since 2017. I wore it until all the elasticity had gone and it was no longer able to properly cover me up at the pool! I also had a pair of cycling leggings which had carried me through the pandemic but were now rather see through.

Unless you had tried these two items on, you might not spot that they did not fulfil their functions any more - they looked functional even though they weren't. I was concerned that if I donated them to a charity shop they would end up in a warehouse and be selected as wearable and export-worthy. Like you, I am extremely concerned about the issue of textile waste - or waste colonialism - in the Global South. Coupled with the emotional attachment I had to these two items, I wanted to do the right thing by them and not add to any problems.

I spoke to expert in textile recycling in Africa and asked what should be done with clothes that are not wearable - should I donate them to a charity shop or would it be better if they were thrown in the bin(?!) or was there another solution?

The expert I spoke to was very clear - even though the textile waste system is not perfect we still need to group all the different types of waste together. Textile waste must be put with other textile waste and not thrown in a random rubbish bin. The example this person gave is of a broken green cotton t-shirt - by itself it is useless, but if you can sort together a container full of green cotton t-shirts then they have value.

On an individual level if you want to make sure your old broken clothes don't end up being exported as wearable clothes then one thing you can do is cut them almost in half - not actually in half because then you create twice as much waste, but enough so that someone sorting a mountain of clothes on a conveyor belt will pick it up and see that it is unwearable and toss it in the rag pile instead.

This is not something to do with wearable clothes - if in doubt do not cut them up. The best thing is still for clothes to remain as clothes and be reused.

This is also not a solution that can fix textile waste on a systemic level. The brands who are overproducing clothes on a planetary scale should be responsible for the waste they create. They should be using used clothes to make recycled clothes - except the entire broken system is designed only to use 'virgin fabric' and produce yet more clothes.

Every country should also have its own second-hand clothing system and it's own recycling system. And the rich countries, like the UK, need to pay for recycling systems in the countries they export to. Innovations in textile recycling need to be installed in the countries where the clothes are being exported to with facilities built by the countries and brands that are causing the problem.

There should also be a hefty waste tax on newly made clothes and shoes - based on the profits of the brand that makes them, and there should be prosecutions and jail time for the biggest offenders. That would get things moving pretty quickly.

In solidarity, Tansy.

p.s. A final small tip - socks in particular make excellent dusters and floor clothes, so I'd give your old socks a new life by repurposing them as cleaning aides.

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Palestine

The Genocide in Palestine is an utter travesty of everything that is good and right and true in this world. As we go about our lives, the most unspeakable atrocities are taking place. I know many of you, like me, are in countries that are either silent or complicit in this Genocide. This is an era defining crisis and future generations will ask us what we did to stop it. Please speak up. Please act.

The next London demonstration in support of Palestine is taking place on the 2nd November:

• The Palestine Solidarity Campaign is also currently running a Boycott Barclays Bank campaign, asking people to close their accounts at Barclays.
• There is also an action to email your local UK councillors.
• And one to support students on campuses that are holding rallies or occupations.