Top 5 Tips for Consumers
1 Pass it on
Passing on your unwanted clothing to a charity means it gets enjoyed by someone else and will ultimately help reduce the environmental impact too. To pass items on simply:
Drop clothes off to your local charity shop, they are always grateful for donations. If you’re a UK tax payer you can ‘Gift Aid’ your contribution meaning the charity gets even more value. Ask staff in store for details – you get a code to use each time you donate once you’ve signed up. It’s quick and easy!
If you are fundraising for your school, church, workplace, sports club or organisation such as Girl Guides or Scouts, there are textile companies who can arrange a textile collection to help you to raise money for your cause. Not only does this generate valuable funds, but creates a great team spirit by getting your supporters to work together to clear out their wardrobes. Don’t throw that fundraising away!
Use the handy charity shop locator to find the shops in your local area. If you want to find a textile bank you can click here
2 Local Recycling Collections
It’s like a chauffeur service for your unwanted and un-useable clothing – making it ultra easy to recycle them. There’s an estimated £140 million worth of clothing going to UK landfills every year, but by sending them to places where they can be re-used or recycled, stops them being landfill fodder and maximises the use of their fibres. Around a third of councils provide a textile recycling collection from your house.
Check our postcode locator to see if your local council is one of them. In addition to this, many charities and textile recycling collectors also make door-to-door collections. Keep an eye out for those plastic sacks coming through your letterbox, it’s a great way to give support to your favourite charities and makes you feel good too!
3 Clothing Banks
Clothing banks are often found in supermarket car parks. Look out for them next time you go shopping, and perhaps you may even have something to drop off? Some of them can only accept clothes suitable for wearing again, but others may accept worn out clothes, stained fabrics, misshapen tops and old underwear for recycling. Check the instructions on the bank before dropping off your clothes.
Damaged clothes are sold and shredded and the fibres made into ‘industrial’ blankets used to protect equipment or even speakers!
4 Sell It
There has never been a better time to sell unwanted clothes. You can sell them online through websites such as eBay, Gumtree, and even Facebook, or through your local cash for clothes outlet or at car boot sales. Selling online can be quick to do with a smartphone as well, you can snap and upload in a few minutes.
With two thirds of people already buying pre-owned and vintage clothes, there is a willing market to buy yours. Check out your options and sell, sell, sell!
5 Swap It
Sometimes we just fall out of love with some of our clothing, but there’s a fair chance there’s someone out there who’s on the look out for something just like it. Passing on unwanted clothing is a good way of maximizing its use and getting more value out of it. This is especially the case for children’s clothes as they grow out of them so quickly, often with little wear.
Have you heard of swap parties or swishing? They’re a fun way to get rid of unwanted items in your wardrobe. You can invite friends over with their unwanted clothing and see what you can swap – you’re likely to come away with new things for your wardrobe that haven’t cost you a thing. Don’t forget that jewellery and shoes can also be swapped. Nibbles and drinks are a must too! Swishing.com provides all sorts of advice to help you arrange a great event.
For more Love Your Clothes tips visit: www.loveyourclothes.org.uk
Time to spring clean your wardrobe but don’t just bin it!
We don’t claim to be magicians, but…. we’ve got a sneaky suspicion that you could conjure up at least 5 brand new ‘this season’ outfits from your current wardrobe and they won’t cost you a thing either. Amazing! The trick is to do a spot of wardrobe spring-cleaning. You’ll unveil things you probably haven’t seen in a while, reveal tops that have been hiding on hangers for months and have all the things you need to create style savvy new outfits, as if you’ve just bought them from a shop.
Spring’s key trend has always been about feeling good; it’s a time of new beginnings and we all feel so much more positive in brighter days. It’s also the time of year we look to have a good clear out of our belongings and start afresh. The only trouble with having a clear out, is that our clothes need to go somewhere. The best place for them, is someone else’s wardrobe where they will worn again but sadly in the UK our landfills are some of the best dressed! Over 140m worth of clothing gets dumped each year (that’s a staggering 350,000 tonnes). So by loving our clothes a little bit more, using what we have to make new fashion combinations and with some inspiring suggestions from www.loveyourclothes.org.uk we can help make you look and feel good whilst taking care of the environment too.
Guide to Spring Cleaning your Wardrobe
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Empty entire contents onto your bed, make a cup of tea (optional)
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Put clothes, jewellery, underwear, shoes etc. into piles of:
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Still wear it
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Doesn’t fit anymore
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Can’t bear to throw it out
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Never going to wear it again
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‘Still wear it’ pile
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Put back onto hangers, fold neatly and tidy away (keeping things neat helps clothes look better for longer)
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‘Doesn’t fit anymore’ pile
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Don’t wait to lose weight/ change body shape/ for a miracle
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Can you think of a friend or relative who would like it?
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Could you do a clothes swap with someone?
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Could you sell it online and make a bit of money?
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Give it to charity
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If you’re fundraising for a local school, club or organisation contact textile recycling companies who can arrange collections and help raise money for your cause
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‘Can’t bear to throw it out’ pile
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If it’s a cherished item with fond memories, make sure it is cleaned and wrapped carefully, kept dry and stored in a box away from your wardrobe to give you extra space
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Give it to charity you feel strongly about knowing you’ve done a good thing and someone else will put it to good use
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‘Never going to wear it again’ pile
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If you don’t like it, don’t have it taking up space in your wardrobe – there’s probably someone else out there who would love it, a friend or relative perhaps?
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Take a photo of it on your smartphone and you can instantly upload it to one of the many online selling sites. Kerching!
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Would a friend be prepared to swap it for that gorgeous top you’ve spied in their wardrobe? Well, if you don’t ask, you don’t get do you?!
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Give it to a worthy cause of your choice or donate it through a charity, local authority or other recognised clothing collection
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Past its best? Even clothes that are worn out, stained or ripped can still live on in other guises. Old pants, bobbly jumpers, threadbare socks, you name it, can all be recycled. By shredding the clothes the fibres can be turned into speakers and industrial rags! Visit www.loveyourclothes.org.uk to find more about doorstep clothing collections and clothing banks near you.
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Don’t forget to spring clean your drawers as well!
FACT: UK has best-dressed landfills!
We throw away £140m worth of clothing each year, which weighs around 350,000 tonnes. Did you know that for every tonnes of cotton t-shirts that are re-used, 12 tonnes of CO2 are saved?
Squeezing every last bit of value from your clothes: don’t just bin
With everyone in a spring-cleaning frenzy, it’s a great time to take stock of your clothes, revamp them and possibly say a fond farewell to them too. Your once loved and now unwanted clothes can live a longer and happier life, not wedged up next to a dirty nappy in a landfill site, but in a friend’s wardrobe who will regularly wear it, in a charity shop making them money or in a clothing bank. Even if it’s on its last legs, it can still go on as it can be recycled and turned into new clothes or even speakers! Find out more at www.loveyourclothes.org.
Idea: Host a swap
Have a go at hosting a clothes swap party. Invite friends around and ask them to bring along some of their clothes that they wouldn’t mind swapping. Now that spring is here it’s an ideal time to get out in the garden. Hang all the clothes on the washing line (ready made rail!) and everyone comes away with a wardrobe. It hasn’t cost a thing, you’ll all have new clothes to wear and it’s a lovely way to spend an afternoon with friends. You could even make it a regular event for each season. Nibbles and drinks are also a must!
For more ways to save money on new clothing and getting the most from your clothes, visit www.loveyourclothes.org.uk