It all begins with Annie Leonard’s (The Story of Stuff) And, if you are not familiar with it, it is time to get uncomfortable for a minute. But, don’t let that keep you paralyzed from fashion. Fashion is taking shape to create closed-loop systems that bring us from sending 23.8 billion pounds of clothing and textile waste to landfills each year, according to the Textile Recycling Organization, to methods that take advantage of pre and post consumer waste to create fashion. Humans are the only animal in nature that leave behind a garbage trail when they walk. It began with the high volume production of goods during the Industrial Revolution which then spurred on the Petrochemical Revolution to make goods faster and cheaper using oil, and now we are on our way to an Energy Revolution which begs the question, how can we turn waste into use?

Pre- v.s. Post-consumer
First, you have to become familiar with the two types of waste. Pre-consumer waste is the waste put out during the manufacturing process, like water, chemical residue and all the fabric off-cuts I get to use when sewing up a new garment. Post-consumer waste is the left-overs of after consumption including the item you purchased, the packaging, the how-to-manuals, the stuff that ends up in the landfill.

According to The Story of Stuff for every 1 garbage can we put out curbside, it takes 70 garbage cans worth of pre-consumer waste to produce it.

Guerra De La Paz is the name that captures two Cuban artists, Alain Guerra and Neraldo de la Paz, based out of Miami who focus on “mass produced refuse on our society” through art as medium. Their work is a colorful menagerie of landfill bound clothing molded into art installations that draw upon issues of mass consumption, international conflict and environmental degradation. What I find interesting is their back story. They managed to create a relationship with Pepe businesses in little Haiti (an area in Miami) that gave them access to an overabundance of discarded clothing for their powerful installations.

So, I thought to myself, are these the Pepe Jeans I sported back in the 80′s? Nope, Pepe is a word to describe “used items imported from abroad” a thriving inter-generational market that began during President Kennedy’s era. In 2002 the New York Times reported that of the approximately 2.5 billion pounds of clothes donated to charity in America each year, as much as 80% is shipped globally. Is that where all my Goodwill and Salvation Army donations go? My psychology proudly thinks that when I drop these bags off, I see I am helping employ men and women staying at the Salvation Army to get back on their feet. Which I am, but in aiding one economies of scale, I am doing a disservice to another, and those are the women, men and children in this country, in my own neighborhood, who can not afford new “digs” each season.

I encourage you to become intimate with your waste this month so next month we can look at some upcoming designers offering you eco-fashion alternatives that don’t stink. Keep the donations going as this is the best way to participate in recycling your fashion waste, because we all are connected, but diversify. Donate some to the Goodwill, others to a local woman’s shelter, sprinkle some to families in need for the holidays or prepare a new fall wardrobe with an old concept made new again, a Clothing Swap, within your community of women! Me and my mom are creating one this month.

Textile Waste As New Found Fashion republished with permission from the ecoVogue365 blog.

Jerah

Jerah Coviello writes the monthly blog feature, EcoVogue365 and is a guest blogger for Girl Power Hour, covering eco-fashion tips and sustainable clothing for the Earth loving woman. With a background in social sciences, nonprofit, sports, arts and the environment, Jerah brings her passions together with her bodacious mom, in one creative expression. Ecovogue365 is an experimental handcrafted project towards sustainable fashion for the 21st-century woman. Find Ecovogue365 on Facebook and Twitter. It’s more than just fashion, it’s care for people, profit and planet.

Jerah Coviello  (30 Posts)

Bringing you the quadro bottom line in eco fashion (people, planet, passion and profit), Modern Hippie Mag’s Conscious Fashion Editor Jerah Lena Coviello explores, delights in, and edits the worldwide scene of conscious, sustainable and eco fashion for you. On a journey to define her own eco-fashion, Jerah curates convertible, handmade, 365 Ltd. couture at her company ecovogue365. You can find her building up the fashion movement in her hometown by hosting pop up swaps, collaborating with the Sarasota Garment District, and growing the sew local scene.