the video includes my experience with thrifting and what i have learned in college about the positive environmental impacts of thrifting. i explain specific facts about textiles and clothes ending up in landfills, creating excess waste on our earth. i also explain my personal relationship with thrifting and how it has helped with my anxiety and friendships. i show my friends in their favorite thrifted outfits and conclude by saying that thrifting is not only good for the environment, but great for the soul.

music by goosetaf – bumblebee – https://thmatc.co/?l=d1299737

washington, d.c., is one of the participating cities of the climathon, and george washington university hosted the d.c. hackathon. students and professionals  from as far as north carolina participated. participants came from a wide variety of ages, backgrounds, and walks of life — from aspiring textile engineers to first-year undergraduate students. the theme of this year’s climathon was “closing the loop on textile waste,” as textile waste and sustainable fashion are topics not discussed enough in the climate conversation. 

perhaps the coolest thing about hackathons is that most participants enter solo, not necessarily already having a plan. it is during those 24 hours that participants form teams, brainstorm potential project ideas, and finally plan and present their idea(s) to the judges. truly, a day packed with innovation, collaboration, and potential for some world-changing proposals to arise.

the final projects ranged from mobile apps to blankets made from textile waste to clothing sorting services — all of which were truly reasoned, innovative, and creative approaches to reduce textile waste and make sustainable clothing options more available and accessible to the d.c. community — and beyond. 

one project in particular that stood out for demonstrating considerable potential on gw’s campus was “remix your loop” — a reimagined thrift store for gw students that makes a wide variety of clothes accessible to all students on campus. the idea was designed by some of the hackathon’s youngest participants: freshmen iradukunda claudine and alise ndacayisaba, and sophomore brianna reynolds.

claudine finds that the root of the textile problem is that “we are always overconsuming in america, whether it’s food or supplies or clothes, and we get lost in this influx of nonsense.” thus, this overwhelming issue fueled their passion to create a tangible, innovative project like remix your loop.

when pitching their project, these young women emphasized the shocking statistic that gw donates 97,000 pounds of textiles per year, coming from clothing donation bins on campus. oftentimes, these textiles are donated to companies that send the clothing abroad to developing countries, which creates more harm than intended as these clothing imports ultimately hurt local clothing businesses. thus, they envisioned an idea that would not only put these (literal) tons of clothing to good use on campus, but also engage the gw community on the important conversations that we need to have about sustainable fashion, responsible consumption, and other related topics. when they took a glimpse of the kinds of clothes that were donated on campus, they found all sorts of quality pieces of clothing. essentially, they thought to themselves: why not put these quality clothes back in the hands of the students?

from this discovery, came the proposal of their thrifting hub, remix your loop. the ladies explained the various perks and unique characteristics of their “reimagined thrift store”: it would provide students with far more affordable options to a wide variety of clothes, which is especially needed in an area where the majority of local clothing stores are high-end and expensive. the store would also provide students with a creative outlet. remix plans to partner with fashion and art students to serve as makeshift “fashion designers” for the store, who would help customers interested in customizing or revamping clothing pieces they find to their own unique liking. 

team member ira claudine finds potential in all clothing donations to be reused in some capacity, and this is where remix your loop would serve as the creative middleman. 

claudine said: “people always see an item as having use for one thing. but in actuality, you can easily turn an existing t-shirt into a tank top, instead of wasting your money and buying a new clothing item you may just wear once or twice.” 

the designers at remix your loop would help customers with such a process. they even considered having classes open to the student body where students would be able to sew and redesign clothing items — fostering a creative outlet and community that the school currently lacks.

there are plenty of other much-needed functions that this thrift store would serve. for example, for a school with a huge internship and professional culture, students often find themselves needing several professional outfits for their wardrobe, but may not be able to afford them. remix your loop would serve any students’ clothing or accessory needs for any occasion, simply using the existing supply of clothing donations from the gw community. 

luckily, a concept that already sounds too good to be true may just turn into a reality. the remix your loop team won 2nd place in the competition. they will receive a $2,000 grant to kickstart their project, as well as guidance from mentors to support them through the execution process.

interested in participating in this exciting event in the future? climathon is an annual event and can be found in cities around the world. if you’re local, gw has always been the host for the d.c. climathon, and this school certainly does not fall short of innovative minds. who knows? you may just be the mastermind behind the next big solution to climate change.

recently i started getting a flier in my bags along with my receipt, which reads, “together we can close the loop.” a catchy phrase that was, of course, in green.

coming from an industry that consumes water and textiles in unimaginable quantities i started questioning if that was a trend h&m was riding out, or a true push forward in sustainable consumerism. it appears h&m is following in the footsteps of companies like levi’s, nike and adidas, which have been pushed by the public to reinvent their production waste tactic through water and textile recycling programs.

as these recycling programs grow, consumers and producers both start winning. here are a few programs on their way to a win-win system.                                                                                                   

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from cradle to cradle

closing the loop is the idea that by donating our clothes, in any condition and from any brand, apparel companies can then stop sourcing new textiles and use what we are giving them. we get rid of our out of style, hopelessly torn and way-too-worn clothing (you know which pair of jeans i’m talking about) and they get recycled by processing plants to be re-made into new clothing. in total there are about 21 billion pounds of clothing and textiles in landfills right now, or 70 pounds per person. some 95% of which could be used to make new products right now.

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levi’s cuts back on the tap

saving water is more important than saving money and levi’s has known this longer than most, levi’s has influenced all industries on how to reduce water use in all facets of the clothing production cycle. their results? saving 1 billion liters of water from 2011-15, or the equivalent of 165 million toilet flushes, according to their website. where levi’s has diversified is by including the consumer in the conversation. they have partnered with i:co, or icollect, a company that facilitates the recycling of consumer clothing and allowing the partner to use the refined goods to make new products. i:co provides drop boxes for clothing of any brand and quality, in return you get a coupon (only at levi’s locations). they have also created their own clothing line based on saving water, water<less. this program advocates to wash your jeans every 2 weeks instead of once a week and save 19 liters of water. pretty simple, and they have pretty infographics and guides to help you along the way as well.

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nike and adidas turn dye dry

two giants in the pantheon of athletic wear, nike and adidas are back at it in tech innovation to save water and recycle shoes. unlike levi’s, nike and adidas are primarily focused on their end of the water reduction and recycling programs. nike and adidas both have waterless dye systems, which save on average 23 liters of water per shirt. both companies also provide a shoe recycling program, though neither offers a voucher or other monetary incentive for the consumer. adidas piloted their take-back campaign, primarily in brazil, but also in the united states. both companies boast renewable energy use, drops in water and pfc use, and tech innovations to reduce waste such as nike’s launch program. though both companies’ programs offer recycling programs, they are limited in scope and in incentives. it is clear nike and adidas are hedging their savings on their end and not on us. 

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h&m globalizes recycling

fast fashion has been flying off the shelves as fast as it goes to the landfill. h&m appears to recognize this and has reacted with a partnership with i:co (remember them?). advertisements for the ‘conscious’ collection have been quite prominent. through this program h&m sources 21.2% of their cotton from organic cotton or recycled, their goal is increasing this number to 100% by 2020. these products are marked by the clevercare symbol on the hangtag along with tips like washing at 30 degrees instead of 60 degrees we can cut our energy use in half. in tandem h&m created the first global garment collection program, really taking i:co and placing it internationally. through this i:co program you will also receive a voucher/coupon. in 2014 h&m collected 7,600 tons of clothing which equates to 38 million t-shirts. though progress is happening rapidly, only 20% of ‘sustainable t-shirts’ are created from recycled materials and they need to increase their sustainable cotton use nearly 80% in 4 years. 

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programs like these are growing and diversifying, with every company listed above creating a new sustainability program in the last 3 years. the two most water intensive steps in clothing production are cotton production and consumer use. we can now tackle the latter and reduce our water consumption and double down on producers water and textile use. it is our opportunity to keep up the pressure and turn this trend into habit, create incentives for consumers and it can only diversify. whether it is that t-shirt that still has a tag on it from a gift exchange gone wrong or your favorite pair of socks you just can’t sew back together, there are options to be environmentally conscious and get a new pair of socks.