Instead of letting the clothes go to a landfill, where they can cause a host of environmental problems, Suay has rescued 50,000lbs of textiles so they can be cleaned, sorted and upcycled by professional designers and sewers. Since LA currently has no permanent textile recycling or collection, it’s up to groups like Suay to save as many textiles as possible before they get dumped or exported.

“To see the overwhelming influx of textiles donations here in Los Angeles in response to the devastating wildfires just shows how the current systems in place have failed us all,” said Suay’s co-founder and CEO Lindsay Rose Medoff. “We have to draw the connections to our everyday consumption and disposal habits. Until we draw these connections, the same overproduction that is impacting our climate and resulting in these disasters will continue to strengthen.”

  • Landless2029@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Fun fact. Shirts get printed for both sides of many things. Sports championships, elections, you name it.

    These shirts make their way to 3rd world countries. So there are people wearing X championship and president X 2020/2024 on them.

    • bobs_monkey@lemm.ee
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      2 days ago

      Yup! I remember watching a documentary on I think Sudan or another north African country some years back, and there was a dude in the background with a 2017 Superbowl Atlanta championship tshirt (Pats won), and I was really confused.

      • Landless2029@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        At a glance you’d think it was a nice gesture to donate unused clothes. But you know they marked it as a tax write off at $40 a piece for the “sports apparel”