Posted on 05/11/2020 8:32:16 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
A once-virtuous cycle is breaking down. What now?
For decades, the donation bin has offered consumers in rich countries a guilt-free way to unload their old clothing. In a virtuous and profitable cycle, a global network of traders would collect these garments, grade them, and transport them around the world to be recycled, worn again, or turned into rags and stuffing.
Now that cycle is breaking down. Fashion trends are accelerating, new clothes are becoming as cheap as used ones, and poor countries are turning their backs on the secondhand trade. Without significant changes in the way that clothes are made and marketed, this could add up to an environmental disaster in the making.
Nobody is more alert to this shift than the roughly 200 businesses devoted to recycling clothes into yarn and blankets in Panipat, India. Located 55 miles north of Delhi, the dusty city of 450,000 has served as the world's largest recycler of woolen garments for at least two decades, becoming a crucial outlet for the $4 billion used-clothing trade.
Panipat's mills specialize in a cloth known as shoddy, which is made from low-quality yarn recycled from woolen garments. Much of what they produce is used to make cheap blankets for disaster-relief operations. It's been a good business: At its peak in the early 2010s, Panipat's shoddy manufacturers could make 100,000 blankets a day, accounting for 90 percent of the relief-blanket market.
In the early 2000s, though, cash-flush Chinese manufacturers began using modern mills that could produce many times more blankets per day than Panipat's, and in a wider variety of colors. Ramesh Goyal, the general manager of Ramesh Woolen Mills, told me that Chinese manufacturing has become so efficient that a new polar fleece blanket costs a mere $2.50 retail -- compared to $2.00 for a recycled blanket. This has made China the preferred manufacturer of relief blankets worldwide, costing Panipat most of its export market.
So Panipat is changing. In 2013, nobody in town made new fleece blankets. Today, about 50 mills do. Ramesh Woolen Mills added a Chinese-built line in 2016, and thereby boosted its production from 7,000 kilograms a day to 12,000, two-thirds of which is polar fleece. Consumers appreciate the quality, variety and fast production times.
But what's good for Panipat and its customers is bad news for donors and the environment. Even if Panipat were producing shoddy at its peak, it probably couldn't manage the growing flood of used clothing entering the market in search of a second life. Between 2000 and 2015, global clothing production doubled, while the average number of times that a garment was worn before disposal declined by 36 percent. In China, it declined by 70 percent.
The rise of "fast fashion" is thus creating a bleak scenario: The tide of secondhand clothes keeps growing even as the markets to reuse them are disappearing. From an environmental standpoint, that's a big problem. Already, the textile industry accounts for more greenhouse-gas emissions than all international flights and maritime shipping combined; as recycling markets break down, its contribution could soar.
The good news is that nobody has a bigger incentive to address this problem than the industry itself. By raising temperatures and intensifying droughts, climate change could substantially reduce cotton yields and thus make garment production less predictable and far more expensive. Industry executives are clearly concerned.
The question is what to do about it. Some brands, such Hennes & Mauritz AB (better known as H&M) and Patagonia Inc., are experimenting with new fibers made from recycled material, which could help. But longer-term, the industry will have to try to refocus consumers on durability and quality -- and charge accordingly. Ways to do this include offering warranties on clothing and making tags that inform consumers of a product's expected lifespan. To satiate the hunger for fast fashion, meanwhile, brands might also explore subscription-based fashion rental businesses -- such as China's YCloset -- or other more sustainable models.
None of these options can replace Panipat and the other mill towns that once transformed rich people's rags into cheap clothes for the poor. But, like it or not, that era is coming to an end. Now the challenge is to stitch together a new set of solutions.
That is awesome!
The only Goodwill story I have is about the night I was there when they tried to put out a huge endangered tortoise carapace that was a felony to have or sell.
:D
Poshmark, the lesser know ThredUp.
I get Doc Martens much cheaper there than on Amazon, new in box.
People are people.
People will still take and wear this stuff. They will just ship more abroad. Ever see what these folks wear in the poorest places in you name the country? It’s this stuff, adidas pants, nike hats, tommy hilfiger shirts.
” What people used to throw away, they kill for now.”....Book Of Eli.
Keep in mind that thrift stores like Goodwill and Salvation Army also provide work for disabled people.
Yes, I know but I prefer SA as they will simply give clothes and food to people with no money...and the gospel, as well.
:)
Good one. “Glory Days...”
They have devolved. :(
I have a quilt that hangs in my Dining Room. Grandma made it from scraps of clothing we all wore through the years.
It’s nice to look at and see some of Grandpa’s old shirts, or pieces of pretty dresses Mom or grandma wore, or clothes sis and I worse as kids. :)
I, too, hope some good comes from all of this self-inflicted nonsense. :)
I’ve volunteered at two small charity thrift stores over the years, and the dirty little secret is that less than half of what is donated is good enough to resell. The rest goes into the dumpster or is picked up to be sent overseas, where much of it is still dumped. What I tell people is, “If you wouldn’t buy it, please don’t donate it. Nobody else will buy it either.”
I believe it was actually started by a Methodist minister in the midwest as a way to help struggling “out of a job” workers. They would repair stuff and resell.
Would not be a bad idea for quality “slightly stressed” furniture or other non dangerous items nowadays....
The ceos are making lots of money selling merchandise given to them for free( except overhead). Basically a stationary mega garage consignment sale.
Very smart. Like your tagline.
...new clothes are now almost as cheap to buy as used clothing as places like Goodwill and St. Vincent’s seem to be RAISING their prices these days.
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No way, especially if you factor in quality.
I have a fave thrift shop (which I will miss enough when we move that I plan on visiting it every few months)where I can buy $90 sweaters in perfect shape for $1.90. I am right now wearing a Ralph Lauren number in thick cabled cotton that cost me a whopping $2.00 and originally sold for around $75. It’s also practically indestructible.
$9 London Fog jackets with zip-in linings, luscious $90 chenille sweaters that don’t self-destruct in the dryer for $1.50....when cheap Walmart junk cost $15 and barely survives 2-3 washings/dryings.
I look forward to exploring the thrift shops of my new closest city. I’m moderately girly and majorly cheap and I love the thrill of name ready-to-wear for a pittance.
I don’t donate clothing, myself. I wear things until they literally disintegrate.
If you’re looking for something to do with your old clothes, remember this article is discussing the Indian rag market. I bet your local populace loves finding something really nice for cheap. Maybe there’s another thrift shop besides Goodwill or St. Vinny’s? Or, consider your robust post-apocalyptic skill set and make your own rag rugs.
I think I’m going to miss those cheap and durable Indian rag rugs. I’ve woven with that recycled wool yarn they call shoddy.....and it is. It’s super thin and never blooms despite fulling. I think it was used to make cheap wool suiting.
I was just about to say this.
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