Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Recyle Clothes And Help The Environment



Consider these facts (partially taken from Sierra Magazine):

The average American throws away 68 lbs of textiles each year.
A single cotton T-shirt takes 700 gallons of water to produce.
And 80 % of items American's own get used less than once a month.

So, why not recycle?  Buy and sell second hand garments?  Recently a few online sources are promoting the sale of used clothing in new ways.  EBay has done that for years (and I have been a customer several times), but these new sites have new ideas to make it easier to sell, or rent.  They should have a bright future, not only to save or make money for normal folks, but also to help the environment. 

One of these is  www.thredup.com   You get a bag in the mail, fill it with your unused (nicer) clothing, and mail it to them.  They sell what they can on their website, and mail you a check. 

Also a big new trend is renting dresses for special occasions, on line, and returning them when your special event is over.  https://www.renttherunway.com/rtr_home  is booming, and does a great job, sizes and cleaning, you can wear a $700 dress for a few days, and return it for a rental that is a tiny fraction of owning it.  And better for the environment as well.   I believe Rent The Runway has well over a million dresses in stock, and they have many sizes and styles. They have perfected the art of fast cleaning and turn-around, it is a logistical nightmare, but they have solved it, and thus own the “first mover” position in the market.


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