I see alot of up-cycled clothing, but one really got my attention, Frayed And Fabulous, a new company is creating clothes from thrift shops. What I really like is she explains how she does it in her blog, so you get some useful tips on how to reuse your own clothing. The Before And After Shots really help you to visualize the past and how it can be made into the future. For instance the scarves, I have about 20 old scarves that I use rarely, but got inspired on a way to reuse:
I Just Gotta Eco Ya:
- 12 Million Tons of Textile waste are made yearly in North America or 68 pounds of textile waste per household.
- 5% of textile waste goes into landfills. (Remember that 1 sock you threw away)
- 93% of all textile waste diverted to recycling is successfully reclaimed with about 35% going out as used clothing, 33% as reprocessed fibers (filler in vehicle seats and, upholstery, insulation, etc), 25% is converted to cloth wipes and 7% to landfill. source
According to a 2009 SMART report, the amount of textiles being dumped is increasing, with 84% of the 11.9 million tons of unwanted clothing a year ending up in landfills. In Europe, textile-recycling is mandated by law See full article from DailyFinance: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/04/02/what-happens-to-all-of-those-clothes-retailers-cant-sell/?icid=sphere_copyright
Plus wouldn’t you know that many clothing companies send their unsold clothing to landfills to protect their brand or not let it be seen on a homeless person. ‘By doing so, retailers and fashion designers believe they will keep unwanted merchandise from flooding the market and protect their brand by preventing their clothes from ending up on, say, a homeless person, says Luis Jimenez, the executive director of the New York Clothing Bank, an organization founded by Mayor Koch 25 years ago to encourage retailers to donate unsold merchandise instead of trashing it. (Source)
You can read more about how to make the clothes, her inspiration on the site. Great job and the clothing looks wonderful