Reena Mital

Slow Textiles did one of those very quick, informal surveys which have become quite commonplace. This survey was done to get some understanding of consumption patterns in clothing, textile waste that is getting generated in a community of around 1000 people, the potential for garment collection and recycling centres.

We asked how many clothes the individuals own. While the average was 40 clothes, the highest was 150, and the lowest 8 pairs of clothes (clearly a minimalist in today’s fast paced world).

Then we asked how many of these clothes were 7-10 years old. Just 10 garments on average. And how many times per year did the respondents wear these apparel – on average 23 times a year.

The more disturbing response was to the reason why the clothes were abandoned. 54% of the respondents said they discarded their used clothes because they were bored of them and wanted something new.

Almost all the respondents donated their clothes.

Slow Textiles and Kirtish Jain, Founder, Livbio, manufacturer of naturally dyed, organic cotton undergarments recently conversed about the possibility of setting up garment collection centres in various parts of a district to collect clothes and textiles that could not otherwise be donated and would get dumped in landfills. A project that we will seriously look into in the coming days.