Related Articles
The amount of clothing that ends up in landfills is astounding — and sobering.
Textile waste is a serious global issue. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, in 2018, “14.5 million tons of textiles were landfilled and incinerated,” with clothing “being the main source” in the United States alone. Additionally, citing external data, a report by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology noted that “it is estimated that in the U.S., a mere 15% of discarded clothing and textiles are collected for reuse, recycling, or downcycling.”
And with the amount of clothing and other textiles being constantly produced, expect these numbers to rise. The fashion industry has a role to play in reducing textile waste. As someone who runs a sustainable fashion company, I’ve taken steps in this area, including partnering with other organizations to organize a clothing swap among Billie Eilish fans at a climate conference in 2022.
But business leaders outside of the fashion industry can take steps to reduce textile waste as well. If you’re a business leader, you can lead by example. By incorporating more sustainable fashion practices into your life, you can influence your team members to do the same. Everyone who changes just one thing about how they handle clothing will positively impact the world. Here are a few ways to encourage more sustainable fashion practices at your company.
1. Set Up Clothing Swaps and Donation Opportunities
One of the easiest steps you can take to encourage more sustainable fashion practices at your company is setting up clothing swaps and donation opportunities.
For instance, once a quarter, you can set aside a day where employees can bring in (or virtually showcase) clothing items in good, clean condition that they’re ready to part with. From there, employees can swap clothing items (if your company is in person or hybrid) as they wish. You can also set up donation opportunities where you direct employees to places they can donate their clothes to help others —and avoid another piece of clothing ending up in a landfill. However, be sure to research any organizations you’re thinking about directing employees to so you understand their policies and practices well.
2. Repurpose Clothing
You can repurpose clothing items that you don’t want to wear anymore for whatever reason for new use.
If you run an in-person or hybrid company, consider cleaning and then repurposing clothes that you or your employees no longer wear. You can use those clothes in several ways, including as towels to clean up spills and wipe away dust from office equipment. If your company is remote, consider sharing with your employees how you’ve repurposed clothing around your home and encouraging them to brainstorm creative ways that they can follow suit. Recycling Day, Earth Day and America Recycles Day are great times of the year to circulate such a message.
The Rolling Stone Culture Council is an invitation-only community for Influencers, Innovators and Creatives. Do I qualify?
3. Rethink Swag Items
Many companies give their employees swag, including company-branded T-shirts, jackets and socks. While corporate swag is a nice thing to give employees, consider rethinking the types of items you hand out —specifically, try to cut back on or avoid corporate-branded clothing. Employees might happily wear a company-branded jacket for the duration of their employment with you, but if they get new jobs, those jackets might end up at the back of their drawers, only to be thrown out later. Instead of clothing, consider other types of swag, such as pens and reusable water bottles, that won’t contribute to textile waste.
4. Change Who You Buy Clothing From
Of course, there are times when you do need to give employees corporate-branded clothing, such as polo shirts that salespeople can wear during conferences. In those instances, try to purchase clothing from a sustainable company.
For “lighter-hearted” events, such as company retreats and outings, you might still want to give employees fun clothing to commemorate the occasion. You can turn to a sustainable company for help, or you can get creative and offer employees a stipend to order clothing of their choice in your company’s colors from second-hand resellers (as opposed to fast fashion retailers, which have been rightfully criticized for their unethical practices and lack of sustainability).
5. Offer Educational Opportunities to Your Team
Earlier, I mentioned Recycling Day, Earth Day and America Recycles Day. These are great days to offer educational opportunities to your team. For instance, you can invite an environmental expert as a guest speaker, encourage employees to share fashion sustainability tips and tricks if they wish to do so and offer stipends for sewing classes (where employees can learn how to mend and extend the life of their existing clothing).
You can offer educational opportunities to your team throughout the year, too. And as you and your team start incorporating more sustainable fashion practices into your lives, you’ll also likely start thinking about sustainability on a broader basis —and making even more positive changes that translate to real-world impact.
