Riches to Rags

written and illustrated by bryan satalino

100 years ago, clothing was considered a durable good—they were passed down to new generations, repaired, and resold. The inherent value of clothing lasted much longer than it does now, with “fast fashion” being the current and prevailing norm for our society. This results in the average person throwing away around 70lbs of clothes each year, with 85% of all discarded clothing going into the trash. However, there is still life in those torn shirts and ripped-up jeans! We are probably all familiar with donating clothing, but did you know that your past outfits can have new life as cloth rags, insulation, or even new clothes? In this graphic we’ll look at some of the paths your old clothing can take.

Hand-me-downs

Clothing can often be passed down to family or friends, in most cases growing children receive clothes from older children. This is a great way to reuse clothing and extends their value.

Some of your clothes might hold value on the used market on sites like eBay, Poshmark and Depop.

Thrift stores—like The Wardrobe—are a fantastic local way to reuse clothing. These items stay local and benefit the community, either by creating a sustainable and affordable source of quality clothing for people on limited incomes or by generating income for small (usually women/minority-owned) businesses.

Up to 30% of recovered textiles are cut into wiping rags or polishing cloths that are then used in commercial and industrial settings.

Fibers may be bound into insulation, often used in car interiors for soundproofing.

Much of our old clothing gets shipped off to developing countries. Even though Philly’s team lost the Super Bowl, they likely printed literal tons of unusable apparel celebrating a projected win. These clothes are shipped to countries in the developing world, where they often end up discarded.

A natural fiber like cotton is much easier to recycle or downcycle for a variety of purposes— much easier than clothing made of synthetics like polyester (PET) or nylon.

Much of the recoverable fibers are used in non-woven textiles for furniture and carpet padding, as well as commercial stuffing.

Yarns

Up to 80% of the clothing received by charities is eventually sold to recyclers. If the fabric is natural (cotton or wool), they shred and re-spin the recoverable material along with virgin fibers into yarn that can be used in new articles.

We still bury most of our trash— 140 million tons a year, according to the EPA, 17 million of which are clothing items. Landfills are ecological nightmares that leach into our surrounding waterways and devastate local wildlife.

Many municipalities opt to incinerate a portion of their trash, much like Philadelphia currently does. This is terrible for the often low-income areas surrounding these facilities.