People nowadays love to waste money on new clothes and not able to keep the clothes that they already have for a long time. Because of the irresponsible attitude that some people have, they only manage to take care of their existed clothing for a very short amount of time. In 2017 alone, the Environmental Protection Agency mentioned that a total of 11.2 million tons of textile waste in the US ended up in landfills.
In this recent culture, many people normalize the attitude of only use the clothes a handful of times or just one time only before they would get rid of the clothes. Lightly or never ever worn clothes will more than likely end up in a landfill or overfilled market in developing countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Chile, or even China.
Here are a few tips to increase the longevity of your outfits:
1) Quick Fixing
If your clothes have a simple faulty and there are no affordable tailor or seamstress nearby, learn how to manage the simple faulty by yourselves would be such a helpful technique. By knowing a little bit here and there about sewing and also clothes repairing, you can extend the lifespan of your clothes even longer and you also don’t have to waste your money on brand new clothes. For example, it might be to repair the zipper, patch a hole on your pants, or others.
2) Visible Mending
“Visible Mending” can be defined as the process to repair holes and also signs of wearing out on clothes using obvious ways. For example, this technique is used in Japan. They embraced the flaws by doing the handiwork of Japanese Sashiko. This means that they are practicing hand embroidery to create a stunning pattern over tears on clothes such as jeans, sweaters, or even dresses.
3) Stain Removal
For this technique, knowledge about the type of fabrics and also the type of stain must be understood. This is because different fabrics and stain could give a different reaction to different cleaning agents. Some examples of cleaning agents that can be used are water, vinegar, shaving cream, dish soap, baby powder, and others.
4) Upcycling And Repurposing
Sometimes if your clothes are not in luck, they cant be saved in their current form anymore. But, it doesn’t mean that you can just toss the clothes into the garbage bin. You can still use the clothes in other kinds of form with different purposes. For example, an old shirt can be used as a rag, small shirts and pants can be patched up to be a comforter.
Sources: CNN International.