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Closed loop fashion: good for the environment and your pocket
Swiss company I:CO are on a mission to make sure more of our old clothes and shoes are recycled and upcycled into useful new products, stopping the waste of valuable raw materials.
Did you know that women in the UK have, on average, £300 worth of unused clothes sitting in their wardrobes? Sadly, on top of that, in the UK 74% of clothes are thrown in the bin. And where do the items end up? Landfill.
I:CO, aka ‘I Collect’, is set on revolutionising our relationship with fashion, by providing a simple money-back incentive to recycle our unused clothes in the places we would normally shop. Everyone benefits – the customer, the retailer and the environment.
I:CO allows consumers to disengage from the negative environmental fast fashion cycle, by reusing, repurposing and recycling their used clothing and shoes. There are now around 3,000 collection boxes at familiar European high street stores including Intimissimi, H&M, The North Face, Levi’s and Forever 21.
Each item deposited is given a new lease of life, and customers get a voucher to get money off a new purchase. That benefits our pockets and the world around us, while helping to use the planet’s resources in a much more intelligent way.
As I:CO say, “The production of a t-shirt consumes between 10,000 and 30,000 liters of water and means additional CO2 emissions of 3.6 kg. With a recycling process, only 5 to 10 percent of these quantities are used or produced!”
I:CO receives around 700 tonnes of used items every day – including men’s, women’s and children’s clothing; leather; furs; socks; belts; bags; and bed, table and household linen. Once collected, the textiles are sorted according to more than 350 criteria.
Textiles taken to your local I:CO will either be sold second hand, upcycled into a sparkly new product, or turned back into original textile fibres if the item is in a bad condition. They can be made into products as diverse as insulation material, cushioning and filling materials for toys or running tracks, and keyrings.
There is no item that cannot be recycled, and by increasing a product’s lifespan, recycling encourages more manufacturers to be mindful of the precious natural resources used in the product design process.
With the New Year less than one month away, what changes will you be making in 2015?
Here’s a tip: take a few minutes to turn your coat hangers in your wardrobe the opposite way around. Next time and every time you wear an outfit, make sure you turn the coat hangers back the normal way. After three months, you will instantly be able to see which items you no longer use and you can take them to your local box.
Then, of course, be conscious when you buy new clothes. Many high street retailers now have more thoughtful fashion lines, such as H&M’s Conscious Collection, so communicate that you want change from fashion brands by investing your money in the most sustainable options.