How to Find Clothes Made of Recycle Materials

While it feels good to buy new clothes for yourself, it's more environmentally friendly if you try to buy clothes made from recycled material. This reduces the amount of raw material needed to be processed to create new clothes. Soda bottles or PET (polyethylene terephthalate) are commonly used to create recycled clothing. Read on to learn about how to find clothes made of recycle materials.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Internet
• Scissors
• Sewing machine

1. Shop at environmentally friendly stores like Wal-Mart and Target that carry brands that use recycled material in their shirts, pants, purses and shoes. Check the tags and read the materials used to create the clothing. See if it has recycled soda bottles, recycled cotton fibers or other post-consumer material. For example, purchase purses or belts made of seat belts or bottle caps.

2. Shop at stores that exclusively sell clothes made from recycled material. There are many different ones online who will even customize the clothing for you. Coca-Cola sells eco-apparel (t-shirts, fleece pullovers, lounge wear, etc.) made from recycled soda bottles.

3. Recycle your soda bottles. The more soda bottles that are recycled, the more of a supply there will be to create clothing from. It takes approximately 25 2-liter soda bottles to create on fleece pullover.

4. Look in your closet and see what clothes can be transformed. Use scissors to cut jeans into jean shorts. Cut a shirt and sew a belt for a dress out of it. There are many different ways to spice up your current wardrobe with old shirts and pants. You can also stop by your local thrift store and buy clothes there. While most of the clothing will not be made from recycled material, you are at least recycling the clothing.

Tips & Warnings

• Call the store where you usually purchase your clothing from and ask them whether or not they produce clothing from recycled material. If they do not do this, you might inspire them to.
• Do not assume that the clothing is made from recycled material if it's coming from an eco-friendly company--check the tags. It might just be created from organic materials, not recycled materials.

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