Main Menu Lists

Clothes

Zero-Waste options:

Second hand and Vintage (Irish) Shops:

Clothes Swap & Sell sites:

Do a google search for clothes swap events in your local area.

Repair clothes:

Upcycle your clothes:

Rent (women’s clothing):

Buy New:

  • Capsule Wardrobe:
    • If you don’t like the idea of buying second hand clothing, then keep your wardrobe simple, buy only what you need, wear it for as long as you can and keep it in good repair.
    • You’ll find lots of information on the ‘capsule wardrobe‘ online.
  • Fabrics:
    • Cotton, linen and hemp can all be composted at end of life, as long as there are no synthetic fibres in the mix. Remove all tags, beads, buttons, zips, decorative items, etc. and cut the fabric into small pieces.
    • If possible, avoid synthetic fibres such as polyester, nylon, and acrylic, as recent studies have shown that these give off thousands of tiny plastic microfibres when they are washed. 
  • Made in Ireland:
  • Irish shops:
  • UK:
    • Rapanui – circular economy, clothes can be sent back to the company for upcycling.
    • Baukjen – sustainable clothing – based in UK, delivers to Ireland and the EU.
  • EU:
    • MUD Jeans – recycled jeans, circular economy, sustainability
    • Nu-In – based in Portugal – most or all clothes made from recycled textiles.
    • Rifo – based in Italy – clothes made from other recycled clothes
  • Apps:
    • Renoon – app that lets you shop based on sustainability criteria that you select – select ‘Closing the Loop’ to see brands that adhere to Circular standards.
    • Good on You – rates companies based on sustainabilty and ethics.

Clothes Hangers:

  • People often take them on Freecycle groups.
  • Charity shops are often in need of clothes hangers.
  • It is not clear that wire hangers can be recycled, so it is best to try to pass these on.

Knitting:

  • Knitting Yarn – recycling program.
  • Knitting Yarn – Facebook group for exchanging unused yarn.
  • Wool/yarn of any colour or size can be donated to Dermot Hegarty (phone/text 083 0905044). “My voluntary projects for 2022 is to crochet/knit a number of blankets or sofa/armchair throws, hats and scarves and donate it to Jack & Friends Centre For Autism in Bandon, County Cork.”

Bridal and formal wear:

Rental:

Buy and Sell:

End of life and recycling:

  • Rags:
    • Some charity shops accept unwearable clothes and sell them as rags. Contact the charity shop first, then mark your bag ‘Rags’.
    • Clothes that are in bad condition and cannot be repaired can be brought to your nearest civic amenity site.
    • Liberty Recycling in Dublin sort the clothes and send unwearables to rag companies and mechanics.
  • Charity shops:
    • Note that clothes that cannot be sold by charity shops are often passed on to textile dealers who export them to developing countries. If they cannot be sold there they will most likely end up being dumped in rivers or open dumps. While it is good to support charity shops, you could also consider your local freecycle or clothes swap groups.
  • Clothing bins:
    • Penneys textile take-back scheme (bins located in their stores). Clothing, footwear, bags, towels and bedsheets can be placed in the bins. Scheme is operated by Yellow Octopus who state that nothing ends up in landfill and all textiles are re-used or recycled.
    • H&M Ireland have collection bins for old clothing – some of the clothing is re-sold, donated to charity, or downcycled/recycled into other products.
    • TKMaxx – has clothing bins for the Enable Ireland charity.
    • Note that some shops operating clothing take-back schemes export the clothes to developing countries where a high proportion ends up on rubbish dumps, especially if the clothes are in poor condition.
  • Composting:
    • Textiles made from natural fibres can be composted.
  • Return to seller:
    • Clothes bought on Zalando can be traded in via their website.
    • Some of the sellers listed in the ‘Buy New’ section above allow you to return clothes for recycling at end-of-life.

Textile Recycling (videos):

  • Clothes and textiles recling – video
  • Garment recycling – video
  • Denim recycling – video
  • Recycling fashion – video
  • Textile recycling – video
  • Plastic bottles recycled into polyester – video

Waste Statistics:

  • The textile industry has been a major polluter of rivers ever since its inception around the time of the Industrial Revolution.
  • Around 20% of the world’s industrial water pollution comes from the treatment and dyeing of textiles.
  • 350,000 tonnes of clothing end up in landfill each year in the UK – in the US it is 17 million tonnes.
  • Over 100 billion garments are produced worldwide each year.
  • Currently only 1% of all textile production is made using recycled materials.
  • ‘Fast fashion speeding towards environmental disaster’ – The Guardian.