Landfills are overflowing with our fashion waste. In the 1980’s, the average person bought 12 new items of clothing a year. According to the Wall Street Journal, the average person will now buy 68 garments annually, wearing each item a mere seven times before discarding it. Wasteful. You can make a difference by disposing of your used clothing in a responsible way.

We can’t keep sending bales of unwanted clothing to developing countries, so how can you make a difference and ensure that the clothes that you no longer wear don’t immediately get piled into a landfill? Easy, consign or donate everything! Clothing that is in great condition can be brought to a consignment store. They will sell them for you, giving you a portion of the proceeds. Good condition clothing – even clean socks or underwear – can make a difference at thrift stores. Your donated clothing is sorted, priced, and placed on the show floor to be resold to secondhand shoppers and will continue to be worn by others. Donated clothing can also be diverted to other industries which use the textile fibers for other purposes such as insulation, padding, and stuffing. Clear out your closet regularly and donate it all!

The best way to change the amount of unwanted clothing you have in your closet is to buy quality clothes at the onset and not be enticed by “fast fashion”, a term that refers to inexpensive, trendy fashion that takes designs from runways and quickly produces them cheaply for consumer consumption. Through “fast fashion” global fashion brands like H&M and Zara have made cheap, popular designs accessible to millions of consumers worldwide, while also the contributing to one of the worst polluting industries globally, including land filling tons of textile waste every year.

At LumberUnion, we fuse American cotton with American craftsmanship in our original garments. Our organic cotton is farmed primarily in the Northern California. Our apparel is milled and manufactured in Southern California and is made with plant-based, non-toxic dyes and crafted to last, not fall apart after a few uses. We are an American clothing company that is doing the right thing for our customers and the environment.

We need to be aware about what happens to unwanted and discarded clothing. What will you do to make the world a better place?  At LumberUnion, we will ensure a quality sustainable wardrobe is available to everyone, one garment at a time.  We are the change, are you?