Anonymous wrote:I would like for there to be more options for clothing recycling. My kids often wear holes in their pants, so does dh. For my son, I do cut off his pants and let him wear the jean shorts, but dh often wears out the butt and the jeans just aren't reusable.

H&M takes textile recycling.

Anonymous wrote:I think the “learn to mend” advice is so often overlooked. I know it can’t help when a garment is actually worn out. But I have been mesmerized by the YouTube videos that show you how to mend holes in wool sweaters. My 20+ years old cardigans live on thanks to being able to mend them!

Those accounts are super fun, yes. But also fake. Most sweaters do not get holes in cute places where darning looks fun. They get shrunken, stretched out beyond repair, or they never fit well in the first place. Most pants don't get holes in cute places. At least for me, I wear out the thighs of my jeans first. There's no cute way to patch that.

I DO have a darning loom now, lol, and I have patched a few kid pants and shirts that are super cute. But I hardly think it's a solution and probably all the stuff I've bought for mending is more harmful in the end than whatever extra use I get out of those pants.

With all of these types of problems we should always be highly suspicious of any solutions involving buying anything, even darning looms. It's the reusable cotton tote of it all.

Anonymous wrote:I would like for there to be more options for clothing recycling. My kids often wear holes in their pants, so does dh. For my son, I do cut off his pants and let him wear the jean shorts, but dh often wears out the butt and the jeans just aren't reusable.

Keep a rag bag. Cut your old clothing up into large squares and use instead of paper towels.

I think the “learn to mend” advice is so often overlooked. I know it can’t help when a garment is actually worn out. But I have been mesmerized by the YouTube videos that show you how to mend holes in wool sweaters. My 20+ years old cardigans live on thanks to being able to mend them!

I would like for there to be more options for clothing recycling. My kids often wear holes in their pants, so does dh. For my son, I do cut off his pants and let him wear the jean shorts, but dh often wears out the butt and the jeans just aren't reusable.

Anonymous wrote:So much privilege in this thread. Don't return (even when your body is hard to fit!), don't buy clothes more than once every decade (who cares if you gained 100 lbs!), don't buy cheap fast fashion (spent $100 on a t-shirt to wear to work from home). My thighs wear holes in pants every 6 months. Should I patch them every time and wear my leggings until they're see-through, to just keep them from a landfill? Nonense.

Most people over the age of 12 don’t gain 100 lbs in a decade. I still have clothes that I bought ten or more years ago that have held up pretty well and I still wear.

Anonymous wrote:Fast fashion is not completely to blame. It's the consumer who is buying way too much. For example, I am in a Lululemon lovers group on Facebook and multiple women will post their 30+ scuba hoodie collection. Who even will get through 30+ hoodies in a year? You can't possibly wear each more than a few times. This world is going to be on fire in a few years.

Yes, and it's also the consumer who needs to replace her entire wardrobe (or a large chunk of it) every "season."

Anonymous wrote:Anyone have recommendations for consignment/secondhand shops in DC and nearby?

I have had really good experiences with the Mint Condition off King Street in Old Town.

Current Boutique used to be good but now they send most of their "good" stuff to their online store, so you don't really find treasures at the store and it's kind of disappointing/boring if you shop in-store.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So much privilege in this thread. Don't return (even when your body is hard to fit!), don't buy clothes more than once every decade (who cares if you gained 100 lbs!), don't buy cheap fast fashion (spent $100 on a t-shirt to wear to work from home). My thighs wear holes in pants every 6 months. Should I patch them every time and wear my leggings until they're see-through, to just keep them from a landfill? Nonense.

Quite the opposite. Lots of people on here who are too scared or too good for thrift stores.

Then let them save the good clothes for people who need to thrift to afford anything approaching quality clothes.

No thanks

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So much privilege in this thread. Don't return (even when your body is hard to fit!), don't buy clothes more than once every decade (who cares if you gained 100 lbs!), don't buy cheap fast fashion (spent $100 on a t-shirt to wear to work from home). My thighs wear holes in pants every 6 months. Should I patch them every time and wear my leggings until they're see-through, to just keep them from a landfill? Nonense.

Quite the opposite. Lots of people on here who are too scared or too good for thrift stores.

Then let them save the good clothes for people who need to thrift to afford anything approaching quality clothes.

There is no shortage of clothes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So much privilege in this thread. Don't return (even when your body is hard to fit!), don't buy clothes more than once every decade (who cares if you gained 100 lbs!), don't buy cheap fast fashion (spent $100 on a t-shirt to wear to work from home). My thighs wear holes in pants every 6 months. Should I patch them every time and wear my leggings until they're see-through, to just keep them from a landfill? Nonense.

Quite the opposite. Lots of people on here who are too scared or too good for thrift stores.

Then let them save the good clothes for people who need to thrift to afford anything approaching quality clothes.

Anonymous wrote:So much privilege in this thread. Don't return (even when your body is hard to fit!), don't buy clothes more than once every decade (who cares if you gained 100 lbs!), don't buy cheap fast fashion (spent $100 on a t-shirt to wear to work from home). My thighs wear holes in pants every 6 months. Should I patch them every time and wear my leggings until they're see-through, to just keep them from a landfill? Nonense.

It would be cheaper for you to buy high-quality items once that you won’t have to constantly replace.

Anonymous wrote:So much privilege in this thread. Don't return (even when your body is hard to fit!), don't buy clothes more than once every decade (who cares if you gained 100 lbs!), don't buy cheap fast fashion (spent $100 on a t-shirt to wear to work from home). My thighs wear holes in pants every 6 months. Should I patch them every time and wear my leggings until they're see-through, to just keep them from a landfill? Nonense.

Quite the opposite. Lots of people on here who are too scared or too good for thrift stores.

So much privilege in this thread. Don't return (even when your body is hard to fit!), don't buy clothes more than once every decade (who cares if you gained 100 lbs!), don't buy cheap fast fashion (spent $100 on a t-shirt to wear to work from home). My thighs wear holes in pants every 6 months. Should I patch them every time and wear my leggings until they're see-through, to just keep them from a landfill? Nonense.

Anonymous wrote:This is why it drives me nuts when people say that the clothes in thrift stores are only for low-income people, and that you're taking away clothes from them if you are not low-income and shop there - there is no used clothes shortage! (This is real twitter discourse). We are drowning in clothes, thrift stores aren't going to run out.

This!