iStylish Textile Recycling Guide: What to Do With Clothes You Cannot Wear
Textile Recycling Guide: What to Do With Clothes You Cannot Wear
Less than one percent of all textiles produced globally are recycled into new garments. In the United States, 11.3 million tons of textile waste reach landfills annually, approximately 81.5 pounds per person per year. The gap between what is produced and what is responsibly handled at end of life represents one of fashion’s biggest systemic failures.
This guide covers every option for clothing that has reached the end of its wearable life, from resale and donation to recycling and upcycling.
The Disposal Hierarchy: Best to Worst
1. Resell (Best Option)
If a garment is still wearable and in reasonable condition, reselling extends its life through another owner. Every additional wear reduces the per-use environmental footprint.
Platforms: ThredUp (mail-in consignment), Poshmark (peer-to-peer), Depop (younger market), The RealReal (luxury consignment), eBay (broadest reach). See our secondhand shopping guide for platform details.
What sells: Brand-name items, current styles, excellent condition, complete with original tags (ideal), and seasonal relevance (list winter coats in September, summer dresses in March).
2. Donate
Wearable items that will not sell on resale platforms (older styles, non-brand, good but not great condition) belong at donation centers.
Where to donate: Goodwill, Salvation Army, local homeless shelters, domestic violence shelters, refugee resettlement organizations, and community clothing banks. Call ahead to confirm what each organization currently needs, as many have specific shortages and surpluses.
What to donate: Clean, wearable clothing in decent condition. Do not use donation bins as a garbage disposal for stained, torn, or unwearable items. This shifts disposal costs to nonprofits.
3. Repair and Upcycle
Garments with repairable damage are worth fixing. Missing buttons, dropped hems, small tears, and broken zippers are all fixable for $5 to $50. Our clothing care and repair guide covers these repairs.
Upcycling options: Convert jeans into shorts, transform oversized shirts into tote bags, turn soft tees into cleaning rags, or use fabric scraps for quilting and craft projects.
4. In-Store Take-Back Programs
Multiple retailers operate textile collection programs that accept any brand in any condition.
| Retailer | What They Accept | What Happens |
|---|---|---|
| H&M | Any brand, any condition | Sorted for resale, recycling, or energy recovery |
| Patagonia (Worn Wear) | Patagonia brand only | Repaired and resold, or recycled |
| The North Face (Renewed) | TNF brand items | Refurbished and resold |
| Levi’s (SecondHand) | Levi’s brand | Resold through the SecondHand platform |
| Eileen Fisher (Renew) | Eileen Fisher brand | Resold, repaired, or recycled (1.8M+ garments collected) |
Brand-specific programs typically produce better outcomes because the brand understands its own materials and can effectively repair, resell, or recycle them. Generic programs like H&M’s have been criticized for sending a significant portion of collected textiles to lower-value uses (energy recovery via incineration).
5. Mail-In Textile Recycling
For items too worn for resale, donation, or brand take-back, mail-in recycling services provide a responsible alternative to landfill.
Retold Recycling: Fill a prepaid bag (up to 5 pounds) with clothing, linens, or fabric scraps. Items sorted and sent to thrift stores, upcyclers, or recyclers. Nothing goes to landfill.
Everywhere Apparel: Accepts any brand via textile recycling mailer. Items processed into recycled cotton apparel, upholstery filling, or insulation. Issues a $5 credit toward their sustainable line.
For Days: Accept-all recycling program. Mail in textiles of any condition. Sorted for reuse or mechanical recycling.
6. Municipal and Community Programs
Textiles cannot go in standard household recycling bins. However, many municipalities operate separate textile collection.
California’s Responsible Textile Recovery Act (effective 2026): Holds the apparel industry responsible for collection, repair, reuse, and recycling of their products. Landbell USA was approved in February 2026 as the producer responsibility organization to implement the program. This legislation may serve as a model for other states.
Local textile bins: Many communities have standalone textile collection bins operated by organizations like Planet Aid, GreenDrop, and American Textile Recycling Service. Verify the operator’s practices before using; some bin operators send collected textiles to developing countries where they disrupt local textile economies.
7. Landfill (Last Resort)
When no other option exists. Heavily contaminated, moldy, or chemically damaged textiles may be un-recyclable. This should represent a tiny fraction of disposed clothing.
What Happens to Recycled Textiles
The recycling process varies by fiber type.
Natural fibers (cotton, wool, linen): Sorted by color (eliminating re-dyeing), shredded into fibers, and re-spun into new yarn. The resulting fabric is slightly lower quality than virgin fiber but suitable for many applications.
Synthetic fibers (polyester, nylon): Can be melted and re-extruded into new fibers through chemical recycling. Brands like Econyl produce recycled nylon from fishing nets and industrial waste.
Blended fibers: The biggest recycling challenge. Cotton-polyester blends (the most common blend in fashion) are extremely difficult to separate. Research into chemical separation is advancing but not yet commercially scaled.
Downcycling: Much of what is labeled “recycled” textiles becomes industrial wiping rags, insulation, stuffing, or mattress padding rather than new garments. This extends material life but does not close the loop.
How This Connects to Your Wardrobe
Responsible disposal is the final stage of the capsule wardrobe lifecycle. When you declutter your wardrobe, every released item should flow through this hierarchy. Building a capsule with high-quality sustainable materials from the start makes end-of-life easier: natural fibers recycle more effectively than synthetics, and quality construction keeps items in the resale market longer.
The best textile waste strategy is producing less of it. A 35-piece capsule wardrobe worn for three to five years generates a fraction of the waste of a conventional wardrobe replaced annually.
Sources
- How to Recycle Clothing and Accessories - Earth911
- Textile Reuse and Recycling - NYSDEC
- California Responsible Textile Recovery Act - CalRecycle
- How to Recycle Clothes Responsibly - CNN