THE MISSION STATEMENT
FAST FACTS
- The volume of clothing that gets thrown away annually has doubled in the last 20 years and is on track to triple if nothing changes. Currently, around 84% of all clothing produced ends up as waste and trash.
- According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, 17 million tons of textile waste ended up in landfills in 2018 alone.
- Textiles can take 200 or more years to decompose fully.
WHAT NEEDS TO CHANGE
Since the 1990s, consumer behavior has shifted to buying more clothes, more often. With the rise of large shopping malls, online shopping and overseas production, clothing retailers gave birth to fast fashion - inexpensive, non-durable clothing items - designed to be refreshed multiple times per season instead of a few times a year. This is how many people end up with multiple items of clothing in their closet that still have the tags on them and no longer fit or have never been worn.
So what’s the problem with this? Why can’t we just donate the excess from our closet to someone else to use?
There’s simply too much clothing to keep up.
For the first time, both consumers and retailers are donating their clothing, intending for these items to find a home with someone else. Unfortunately, this has led to an influx of donations - and what can’t be sifted through quickly, or items that may have small flaws, are often thrown away. Only 20% of these donations end up being sold to consumers.
That is where we step in.
Threads With Intention’s mission is to rescue as much clothing as possible before it hits the landfill. This makes these items available directly to you, the consumer, for a longer time or for a lower price than is offered by retailers.
We also understand that not everything you may need is available immediately on a secondhand basis. That's why we have partnered with sustainable, ethical and American-based companies to provide a selection of brand new basics that are here for a long time, not just a good time.
By shopping intentionally for what we may need or want and by purchasing secondhand, we are working together to reduce global waste.
RESOURCES:
- Treehugger.com: https://www.treehugger.com/clothes-you-donate-dont-always-end-peoples-backs-4863686
- Roadrunner Waste Management: https://www.roadrunnerwm.com/blog/textile-waste-environmental-crisis