What Is Clothing Recycling?
How to be more sustainable with clothes?
How to get rid of clothes sustainably?
How to recycle clothing fabric
Which clothing fabrics are recyclable?
What happens to recycled clothes?
Where can I recycle unwearable clothes?
Where to recycle fabric scraps in the UK?
Why is it important to recycle fabric and clothes?
How can clothing brands be more sustainable?
How are sustainable clothes made?
Percival’s commitment to sustainability
How to be more sustainable with clothes?
There are so many ways to be more sustainable with your clothes, whether that’s through how you go about purchasing them, how you care for them, or how you dispose of them. The fashion industry is responsible for 10% of global greenhouse gases, and 20% of global water wastage — those are pretty monstrous figures, so it’s important that we all do what we can to bring this figure down. That’s us, that’s you, that’s everybody. We’re going to take you through some of the ways that you can do your bit, and show you what we’re doing to minimise our environmental impact.
How to get rid of clothes sustainably?
A good way to rid yourself of clothes you’ve grown out of (physically, emotionally, or tastewise) is to donate them to charity or a second-hand store. There is no shortage of places to donate your clothes, and you can find them on just about any high street. Just pop your head in or send an email and most second-hand places will be happy to help you unload your unwanted clothes on them. This means that clothes live a longer life and help to slow the tide of fast fashion.
How to recycle clothing fabric
Clothing banks will usually point you in the right direction in terms of separating fabrics. Often, however, this is done manually by skilled workers. Another option is to reuse clothing fabric e.g. torn up old tee-shirts as cleaning rags or turning old jumpers into cushion covers… Listen, we think your gran had a point, that’s all we’re saying.
What happens to recycled clothes?
That polyester we were on about — what they do is they break it down into smaller and more manageable pieces, then they form little pellets that can be used to make just about anything, including new clothing. A similar process takes place with other more organic materials, minus the pellets. Materials are cut into smaller pieces and then processed into usable fabrics or yarn.
Where can I recycle unwearable clothes?
You can recycle clothes you no longer have a use for in all sorts of places. You can find a list of recycling locations near you right here.
Where to recycle fabric scraps in the UK?
You can recycle fabric scraps in the same places you recycle clothes — they’re all going be chopped up and repurposed anyway. Here’s that link again.
Why is it important to recycle fabric and clothes?
Impact on the environment
You’d think we want to encourage you to buy as many clothes as possible, being a menswear brand. And we do. But that’s because Percival’s clothes are built to last and are made with as many sustainable materials as possible. If clothes are constantly being replaced due to wear and tear or shoddy manufacturing/materials, then the global clothing carbon footprint just increases and increases. If the clothes that are being manufactured are made sustainably and properly — so they’ll last you more than the average 2.2 years — that problem is alleviated somewhat. If clothing is made from sustainable fabrics, using sustainable practices in the first place — even better. Certain materials are more environmentally friendly than others e.g. organic cotton uses less water than its non-organic counterpart, whilst also avoiding pesticides, making it more recyclable and minimising carbon emissions. Learn more about the benefits of organic cotton.
How can clothing brands be more sustainable?
They can use recyclable or reusable packaging, like the compostable ziplock bags we use for shipping clothes via couriers who actively seek net-zero carbon neutrality. Brands can also produce smaller quantities of their pieces, meaning that waste is minimised. Using sustainable materials such as the organic cotton mentioned above, wool, linen etc. is important. This minimises environmental impact at the start of a garment’s life, meaning that the eventual impact will also be lesser.
How are sustainable clothes made?
Small production runs, efficient cuts of material, as little shipping as possible in the production process, local manufacture, environmentally friendly, easily recyclable, and biodegradable fabrics — there are myriad factors that go into the production of sustainable clothes.
Percival’s commitment to sustainability
We generally make our products from a single material, ensuring the quality of our products and making them a little more easily recyclable. Our 100% organic Jersey cotton is certified by the Global Organic Trading Standard, and it’s grown without the use of pesticides. This certification also ensures that plants are watered at efficient hours e.g. during the evening to avoid unwanted evaporation, minimising water use. We also lean heavily toward timeless pieces and wear-test them all with our employees to ensure longevity.
In terms of shipping — we use sea freighting from China and Vietnam, and truck freighting from Europe. Less than 5% of our stock is now air freighted, and this is only done as a last resort due to delays in production or late additions or changes to a style. We’re always aiming to improve even further, and any suggestions are welcome!