Recycled Goods

Remember that hand me down you got that you just never wanted to give up? That item that was just your favourite thing in the whole wide world? Well we’d bet that someone else is now looking at that hand me down the same way that you once did. The benefits of pre-loved clothing are ingrained in us through our childhood, and this continued love of clothing is what we’re replicating with our recycled goods here at Palmah.

What you probably didn’t realise when you first got that hand me down when you were 6 years old, or passed it on when you were 8, is the amazing positive impact you were having on our environment by not throwing that lovely garment away. Last year alone, the United States threw away 14 million tonnes of clothing into the landfill. 14 million. It’s estimated clothing and textiles take up to between 7 and 12% of landfills globally. Being textiles can take upto 200+ years to decompose, you can only imagine the implications of this year level of waste year on year for the next 100 years. 

Change is needed if we want our kids to enjoy the planet like we’ve all been blessed too. But if the world and the textile industry continues on the path it is currently on, this is a blessing that will stop at our generation. It was for this reason we were so keen to adopt recycled goods into our growing list of sustainable fabrics. Among all the sustainable alternatives in the textile industry, recycled clothing is far and away the leader in decreasing the negative implications the textile industry has on our environment. So we’re absolutely fizzing to welcome it into our Palmah fabric whānau, and can’t wait to see what more we can do with it. 

Here’s some of the reasons we were stoked to welcome recycled goods:

o Drastically decreases the amount of clothing which ends up in landfills

 

o Recycling 1 million tons of clothing textiles is the equivalent of removing 500,000 cars from the road in terms of global warming contributions

 

o Reduces the number of plastic bottles and other plastic waste that end up in the ocean and in landfills

 

o Requires significantly less resources, energy and fossil fuels compared to producing new garments, avoiding CO2 emissions and water usage

 

o The more we do it the more advanced recycling and processing technologies become as demand for it increases

 

o Keep the loop going so that clothing can continue to be reused and recycled