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On average, Americans throw away nearly seventy pounds of clothing each year. Add it up, and over 145 billion pounds of recyclable clothing go to landfills EVERY YEAR!  Some more facts for you: non-recycled clothing makes up 5% of municipal sold waste. The recycling of clothing is called textile recycling. With 95% of clothing able to be recycled, it would seem easy to alleviate a large portion of what is going to landfills. However, based on the amount of textile recycling that does occur, only 2.5 billion, out of the original 145 billion pounds of clothes are recycled. So what can we do?

There are numerous lines of environmentally friendly clothing that are sweeping through the fashion world. Nordstrom's carries some eco-friendly clothing items under the Holistia line, and there are many websites that you can order clothing from. White Apricot, Alternative Apparel, and Patagonia are just a few of the websites that provide eco-friendly clothing lines. Their clothes are made with organic cotton and recycled materials. Patagonia uses recycled soda bottles and old unworn clothes to make polyester, which is then used to make clothes. Other suggestions to prevent clothes being sent to landfills is donation, garage sales, and clothing swaps. A fun and inexpensive way to spiff up your wardrobe is to hold a clothing swap with your friends; your clothes are reused (and again appreciated), and you've got some spiffy "new" duds as well!

Here are some sites to check out that feature eco-friendly clothing!