3 creative ways to fix fashion's waste problem | Amit Kalra

What happens to the clothes we don't buy? You might think that last season's coats, trousers and turtlenecks end up being put to use, but most of it (nearly 13 million tons each year in the United States alone) ends up in landfills. Fashion has a waste problem, and Amit Kalra wants to fix it. He shares some creative ways the industry can evolve to be more conscientious about the environment -- and gain a competitive advantage at the same time.

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[Apostate_ofmind]

Tip: let go of seasonal fashion and wear your clothes (that can last years) until they fall apart, then take them and sow them back together. Buy little, throw away nothing.

[Mcormic]

I worked at a Goodwill type facility. (Almost) everything sold there came from donations. I handled taking in, and sorting donations from people. We got so many large trash bags of clothes daily, that we couldn't sort them all. We used industrial hay balers to compact them into giant bricks, held together by thick wires.

An entire warehouse wall was dedicated to storing these bales. About 10 bales wide, five bales deep. Forklifts were required to move the bricks. These were then loaded into trucks and taken to be sent to other countries. This happened twice a week at least.

Now, if this only accounts for 15% of all the clothes?! Wow... just wow... I believe it though. I like his approach. I was told once that so many donated clothes are affecting local textile industries in other countries, so that's another concern.

Fascinating talk, nice work!

[ndelli]

This isn't a solution to a problem, this is a bandaid fix. We need to address fast fashion and the industries unsustainable practices at the root of the problem. We need to address our consumerist society not just figure out how to continue it, this will never be environmentally, socially, or economically sustainable.

[superhumanlanga]

85% of clothes ends up in waste, after the environmental damage of producing that clothing. Mind blowing

[Future_Pheonix]

A very important talk, we have a long way to go in making the fashion industry more environment friendly and people friendly. I believe awareness is the first step as many do not realize the full damage the fashion industry (the way it is currently run) causes in many ways, for example, the damage both donated and thrown away garments cause around the world, the terrible ways in which our clothes are produced, the effects of the toxic chemicals in clothes on our own bodies, and so much more.

[b_uppy]

Microfiber, polyester, other petroleum-based fabrics are a real problem. They don't break down properly. They end up in the food chain as nutrition-depriving particles to the small creatures that eat them. Natural fibers are much better because in the end, when the fabric is beyond reuse, it can still be composted.

The turmeric will wash out quickly.

[jessieo]

shredding a fabric to make into new thread (that gets made into new fabric) has an inherent problem. The short fibers produced from this process results in a weaker end product. A clothing item made from this process would wear through quicker than one made from new materials. I'm not saying to never attempt this process, just consider that aspect. Lots of fabric is actually recycled into housing insulation and shop rags.
Another reason more clothing isn't recycled this way is that it is difficult to process it if it has mixed fibers. Aside from the issues he mentioned about zippers and buttons, most clothing is made of more than one fiber (cotton/polyester/spandex). This complicates the recycling process. Aside from the physical issues involved in recycling mixed fibers, It is a law that you must put fiber content percentage onto the label of all clothing. This becomes impossible if it is made from a wide mix of materials.

[DecodeChannel]

The future is trash. Recycling it, re-arranging it. Making it beautiful again.

[Disthron]

This isn't a fashion problem, it's a capitalism problem. The fashion cycle is just a way to keep people buying new clothes. They don't want people to keep their clothes for long periods of time.

That's why this will never be adopted. It'll still be cheaper to throw things away and squeezing every red cent is the name of the game.

[mimistonefox]

I love this video so much, and I love the boy who did this ted talk. he was so collected and informed. I appreciate this video so much because this is what I plan to do in my future. thank you ted talks for supporting innovative ideas like this!

[mojosbigsticks]

No! He says we're all 'guilty' of wearing underwear till it wears out (6:04).  That's the behaviour we should be proudest of!  That's what we should be promoting!

[nathantallar]

I wish and talk to this dude, so I could learn from him and others like him to help change the fashion industry, for the good of the planet

[edouardomaindargent]

Last idea summarized: "What if we did like before! Would be so cool and fashionable!"

[bulgarianchick]

I just pitched a business idea for my sustainable entrepreneurship course at my uni, inspired by this video. Mind u, this is an elective I am a masters student in Sustainable Development. My idea also included using vegan leather. Thanks for spreading awareness! You are inspiring us all :D

[lucial.]

Yes! sustainable, recyclable clothes are the future. Thanks for this speech!!

[bindmedia]

Fashion industry is the number 2 polluter? Very eye opening.

[Disthron]

Thinking about this more, I'm starting to see young women around wearing fashions that were popular in the early 90's. I remember when I was a kid in the late 90's, bell bottoms started coming back into fashion for a while. I actually think the 90's look is pretty good, but the point is, it was always good. Fashion moves on a conveyor belt so that fashionistas can shame people who are wearing "old" fashions.

....Obviusly that's a generalization and dosen't apply to every single person.

[jaceygardenwray]

Hmmm wouldn’t more cotton crops mean more use of resources? I’m no expert but I’m pretty sure agriculture requires a lot of water and land. Maybe by that point we’ll have better agricultural systems. There’s so much we could do to help. Tiny things can have huge impacts. Just from limiting the amount of plastic you buy to cutting back on your meat intake. If you eat meat for breakfast lunch and dinner, maybe try just replacing one of those meals with something that doesn’t have meat. So so many little things can help our planet to try to heal, before it’s too late. This dude had some good things to say though. 👏🏻

[SimeonRadivoev]

Current recycling also requires resources and work put in. We either make clothing to last or make recycling benefit the environment like nature does with all living beings.

[bbybl.u]

Fashion is the 6th most polluting industry, but other than that this was very insightful. Here 5 years later and we still have no true solutions :/ the ideas were inspiring