In September of last year, American Recycled Clothing’s Ricky Kaplan had the opportunity to speak with Kamea Chayne of the Green Dream podcast to discuss fast fashion, sustainable clothing alternatives, and consumer consciousness. The podcast was featured on The North Face and REI’s websites as part of a collaboration series with National Geographic called REWIND NATURE. We wanted to take a moment, first, to acknowledge how cool it is that Ricky had the opportunity to be featured on these big-name sites. More importantly, though, we want to emphasize the points he had to make during the podcast, in order to encourage anyone reading to shop sustainably and consider their consumer consciousness.
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American Recycled Clothing Featured On R.E.I, ‘Green Dream’ Podcast With Kamea Chayne
Why Is Fast Fashion Bad for the Environment?
In 2012, it was reported that 2.5 billion—yes, you read that correctly—pounds of clothing is disposed of in the landfill or burned. Keeping in mind the number of resources it takes to produce clothing of that kind, is a large enough environmental red flag we want to draw attention to. If the fashion industry continues to carry on this way, CO2 Emissions for the fashion industry are predicted to increase by 50% by 2030.
What Is Fast Fashion?
For those of you wondering, fast fashion is the term used to describe clothing which moves quickly from the runway to retailers to keep up with new trends. It is mass-manufactured, and oftentimes considered disposable and poor quality—hence why such a large percentage of it ends up in landfills.
It’s like that only 10 percent of clothing is moved through retailers, and the remaining 90 is thrown away, after being worn only once or not at all. This is startling use of resources for something we as humans take so seriously: fashion. Fashion is a form of self-expression, and it’s also one of the few produced items which never loses its intended purpose over time. So, you may be wondering...
What Are Sustainable Clothing Options?
As Ricky discusses with Kamea in the podcast, the amount of clothing material produced could act as a fabric source all on its own in order to re-purpose and create new clothing options. Ricky talks about how American Recycled Clothing is a zero-waste company, relying on our established relationships with textile recycling mills to obtain clothing that can be repurposed and re-sold to work with the fashion of modern times.
Buy Wholesale Vintage Clothing
American Recycled Clothing understands that what is fashionable in the past may be fashionable in the future as well. As mentioned, we have decades-long relationships built up with textile mills to buy their unwanted stock. This can consist of anything from denim, flannel, or even designed labels so many covet, for a fraction of the cost.
American Recycled Clothing not only offers shopping opportunities for individuals to pick through thrift items for their own wardrobe, but we can also work with designers to repurpose denim to create a brand new line of jeans. We can work with costume designers to provide resources already available rather than contract a warehouse for more new materials. American Recycled Clothing looks to the past in order to be fashion-forward.
Adapting the Consumer Consciousness
Consumer culture has become so ingrained in our global consciousness that in order to feel some sense of satisfaction, relief, or even happiness, we need to buy, buy, buy the latest and most expensive trends and fashions. That doesn’t have to be true. As Ricky discusses in the Green Dream podcast, the responsibility and power lie with the consumer—not the retailer. The ability to consciously decide not to purchase fast fashion is dependent on knowing where to look for your next wardrobe overhaul. American Recycled Clothing offers a wide range of clothing and categories to not only help you dress your best, but also help the environment.
Interested in Buying Used Clothing Wholesale?
Contact American Recycled Clothing and we can begin working with you on your next project, play, or style transformation. The future of fashion is sustainable. Take up the call to be more sustainable with your clothing purchases and browse ARC’s shop today.
Check out Kamea Chayne's one-on-one interview with Ricky.
Watch the REWIND NATURE video featuring Ricky, as seen on R.E.I.