Jun 25, 2024

Give back and recycle - circularity for your conversation starter!

Have you ever thought about what happens to our conversation starters once they go out in the world? We have, a lot!!

Here at Clothing The Gaps, something has been on our minds for a while now…what happens to our merch with a message once it’s been worn to every Community event, rally, café, office, is covered in coffee stains, and has finally reached the end of its life?

Or what if you've just not been gravitating towards that conversation starter in your wardrobe and you're ready for it to have a new home so it can keep sparking conversations?

We wanted to create a solution for the questions and we're really excited to share what we've been working on.

But first, why do we care?

According to the Australian Fashion Council, in 2018-2019, Australians bought 383,000 tonnes of new clothing which is around 56 items per person over the year. The re-sale market (golly do we love an op shop!) is overwhelmed with clothes that are actually not fit to be sold, making clothing one of the largest contributors to Australia’s waste problem.

As a clothing brand, we know it is not enough for us to care only about how, where and with what our pieces are made.

When we create our merch, we must take responsibility for its whole lifecycle: from concept and design to manufacturing and dispatch, right through to the end of the line when it’s no longer needed or fit for purpose. We see this as holistic care for the merch we create.

The last place we want to see these pieces is adding to the more than 200,000 tonnes of clothing that ends up in landfill every year and contributing to damaging Country.

We know that we need to implement new processes so that we can contribute to this collective action too. So, we’ve come up with a plan to do our bit to stop our merch ending up in landfill. It’s pretty simple, but we think it’s a really important one.

As a business, we’re constantly thinking about how to keep evolving to do better for Community, Country and champion supporters. We believe this is not only a great thing to offer, but the right thing to do. Thinking holistically about our actions as a business and a brand is so important to us.

It was a no brainer for us to add our voice to the Seamless Clothing Stewardship Scheme to work towards clothing circularity by 2030. There are so many great brands doing amazing things in circularity. We’re so keen to work together to contribute to the solutions against clothing and textile waste in Australia.

We're now ready to rehome or recycle! Here's how it works...

REGIFT - Let us find a new home for your merch with a message in Aboriginal Community groups

If you’re finding yourself prioritising different conversations over others and you’ve got pieces of merch that you’re no longer grabbing out of your wardrobe to wear daily that are still in great condition – we’ve got a solution to give them a new home.

Send them back to us, or bring them in store, and we’ll sort them to be laundered and redistributed to Aboriginal Community organisations that frequently reach out to us or to other upcycling projects. Woo!

If this sounds like something you’re interested in hearing more about as a Community organisation, reach out at hello@clothingthegaps.com.au

RECYCLE - let's give it another life!

Here’s how it goes…if your tee has been worn so hard it’s no longer wearable (think stained, ripped etc) bring it in store, or send it back to us, and we’ll sort it before sending it to one of our our fabulous recycling partners, like our friends and fellow B-Corp gems at Upparel on Boonwurrung Country.

From there it will be recycled and most likely end up being used for packaging, signage, homewares, rags, and more! Click here to learn more about the Upparel recycling process.

Being able to collect pieces at the absolute end of their life and recycle them to live on in another way is heaps better than it ending up in landfill!

Now that’s easy! But we were also wondering about what happens to the tees that people are no longer wearing for one reason or another.

Ready to Regift or Recycle your conversation starter?

Alright, you’ve got the vision, here's how it works for in store and online.

In store: Bring your pieces to recycle or rehome in store and pop them in our fab new collection point. From here, our team will work their magic for you.

Online: Pop your pieces in the post to Clothing The Gaps Recycle, 744 Sydney Road, Brunswick VIC 3056. Please pop a note in to let us know if you think your pieces are for recycle or to rehome.

Want to learn more? Here's a few good places to start

Read the Australian Fashion Council’s Clothing Data Report.