This Old Thing
Old clothing can become a hassle to try and recycle. You do a lot of searching, which quickly turns to frustration, and your mind immediately goes to throwing it away. We don’t always understand the consequences of tossing unwanted textiles. It may be out of sight, out of mind, but once your old pair of jeans or t-shirt enters the landfill, the negative impact is expanded landfill land space and methane gas emissions. There’s sustainable options out there for you though – and we have a few to share.
A Few Easy Options
We took the opportunity to dive into companies and organizations that are furthering the effort to keep textile waste out of our landfills. We’re proud at Reborn to be your solution for clothing or material you are not using anymore, but want to keep in a new form. Still, there is the problem of what to do with the bags of clothing you have no use for anymore.
Who would want an old bra? Well, Bra Recyclers do! Bra Recyclers offers you the options to send in your old garments and keep, even the ones that you’ve worn for years and look like need to be in a landfill, out of the landfill. 
Thus far, they’ve been able to donate nearly 2+ million gently used bras to organizations around the globe. Bra Recyclers business engages in helping women and girls escape domestic violence, human trafficking and provide women without insurance post-breast cancer financial support.
Did your shoes walk a million miles and you’re thinking just to throw them away? Don’t. Soles 4 Souls is an organization that accepts shoe donations, of any size, in any quantity, to help create sustainable jobs and distribute gently used shoes and clothing to people in need around the globe.
Helpsy is a great organization that not only allows you to recycle your own clothing, but also allow businesses to participate in hosting a bin.
If you’re ever looking to recycle clothing in your area but not sure who to send it to, The Association Wiping Materials, Used Clothing and Fiber Industries website allows you select what you’re recycling, your states and country, and provides a list of companies in the region your can recycle your clothing to.
Brands You May Know
Brands are starting to recognize the problem they’re perpetuating by making more and more clothing for consumers. H&M offers the opportunity to bring your clothing in to recycle for a voucher. There’s no set amount to how much that voucher will include or what percentage you’ll get off.
Patagonia allows you to drop off used Patagonia clothing to select stores or mail it to an address provided on their website. In addition, Patagonia’s business model began to use plastic soda bottles that could be transformed into fleece to use in their products. Today, they continue to use plastic soda bottles, unusable manufacturing waste and old recycled garments brought into stores to manufacture new products.
North Face began a program in 2013 called Clothes the Loop, allowing you to bring as many used textiles into stores across the nation and reward you through store credit. North Face focused on diverting used textiles from landfills and allow the fabric to be repurposed.
Our Work
Reborn’s business models ensures that no material is wasted. Our traditional business focuses on creating upcycled products for customers from the clothing they send us. When there are pieces left over, we ensure that the scraps will have a continuedpurpose with our Zero Waste Collection.