Building Ecotopia: Recycled Clothing

by Chuck Hall

You don’t necessarily need to buy clothing made from organically grown materials to dress in a sustainable manner. Another possibility when greening your wardrobe is to consider recycled clothing. When you purchase your clothing at outlets like Goodwill and Salvation Army, you are not only contributing to charity, but also giving older clothing a second chance at life. Purchasing clothing in this manner is not only less expensive than new clothing, but it is also good for the environment because every pre-owned garment you purchase is one that didn’t have to be manufactured. I’ve been buying many of my clothes from Goodwill and Salvation Army for years now. Most of the clothing I’ve purchased from these charities over the years is virtually indistinguishable from the new clothing on the racks at the mall. I’ve also noticed lately that more and more clothing made from organic materials is showing up at these outlets, so the general public must be making the switch!
Another aspect of green garments is their care. Most organic materials can be washed in a machine or by hand, but for the few that still require dry-cleaning, there are now green alternatives to the foul-smelling and toxic chemicals used by traditional dry-cleaners. One method is to use carbon dioxide under high pressure to remove dirt and stains. The system is enclosed and pressurized so that the carbon dioxide cannot escape into the atmosphere, and some say that this method works even better than traditional dry-cleaning. Another method involves nothing but water. The water is forced through the garment at high pressure in a fine jet spray, taking the dirt and soil with it. The water passes through the fabric too quickly to moisten it.
It has been determined that washing and drying clothing has at least as much environmental impact as its manufacture does. If you can wear clothing at least twice before washing it, that’ll help. It also helps to dry your clothes in the sun if at all possible. There’s no sense in paying a higher electricity bill to dry clothes in a machine when the sun will do it for free! You can also make a difference by using an organic laundry detergent.
It’s interesting to see how fashions have evolved over the years, and to speculate what the impact of the organic trend will be. I’ve often felt at odds with the fashions of the day. I kid my wife that I must have been a Buddhist in a former life, because I like baggy, natural fibers and sandals. I wonder how often the choice of materials a designer has to work with dictates what the end design will be? There market is definitely shifting towards more natural, organically grown fibers, and the designers have picked up on it. Maybe in the future we can expect to see bright, hand-dyed organic colors, long flowing robes and ‘pajama’ pants, since natural fibers lend themselves well to these types of expression. That would be my idea of paradise! But whatever the future holds for the garment industry, you can rest assured that natural, organically grown fibers are here to stay.