When Clothes End Up in Landfills, They Don’t Just Disappear.
Jessica Medel
December 9th, 2025
When clothing ends up in landfills, the environmental impact goes far beyond visible waste. Discarded garments play a significant role in greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to climate change in ways many people don’t realize. The fashion industry as a whole is responsible for an estimated 10% of global carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, making it one of the most polluting industries in the world . Each year, around 92 million tons of textile waste are generated globally, with much of it never being reused or recycled.
In the United States alone, approximately 85% of discarded textiles end up in landfills or incinerators, rather than being reused or recycled. Once buried, clothing, especially garments made from synthetic fibers like polyester or nylon, can take decades or even centuries to break down. During this slow decomposition process, landfilled textiles can release greenhouse gases such as methane and CO₂, particularly in low-oxygen landfill conditions where organic materials break down anaerobically.
Beyond emissions released during decomposition, discarded clothing represents a massive waste of the resources already used to make it. Producing garments requires large amounts of water, energy, chemicals, and fossil fuels. When clothing is thrown away after only a few wears, all of those resources are lost, and even more emissions are generated when replacement garments are produced. Research shows that only about 1% of used clothing is recycled into new garments, meaning the vast majority contributes to further environmental strain.
Fast fashion has accelerated this problem by encouraging rapid trend cycles and disposable consumption habits. As trends change faster, clothes are worn fewer times and discarded more quickly, increasing both production emissions and landfill waste. Synthetic fabrics dominate fast fashion and are particularly problematic because they do not biodegrade naturally, remaining in landfills while continuing to pollute soil and water over time .
This is why sustainable fashion models like ReWear are so important. By extending the life of garments through reuse, repair, and redistribution, fewer clothes end up in landfills and fewer new garments need to be produced. Keeping clothing in circulation helps prevent unnecessary methane and CO₂ emissions while preserving the resources already invested in each piece. Repairing and rewearing clothing also supports skilled labor, such as seamstresses and tailors, and reinforces a more responsible, circular fashion system.
As climate change becomes an increasingly urgent issue, reducing emissions from every industry matters, including fashion. Choosing reuse-focused models and supporting sustainable brands isn’t just a lifestyle decision, it’s a meaningful way to reduce carbon emissions, protect resources, and slow the growing impact of textile waste on the planet.
From Closet to Climate: Why Every Garment Matters
Why Sustainable Fashion Matters More to Me Than Ever
Jessica Medel
December 9th, 2025
Fashion has always been a way for people to express who they are, but over time, the industry has changed in ways that are hard to ignore. Today, clothing is produced faster and cheaper than ever before, encouraging us to buy more than we need and replace items almost immediately. Trends come and go quickly, and it’s easy to forget how much waste is created in the process. Once I started learning more about where our clothes go after we’re done with them, it became impossible to look at fashion the same way.
So many garments are worn only a few times before being tossed aside. When that happens, they often end up in landfills, where synthetic fabrics can take hundreds of years to break down. What’s even more unsettling is knowing how many resources, such as water, energy, and labor, went into making those clothes in the first place. Seeing fashion treated as disposable makes you realize how unsustainable this cycle truly is.
That’s why sustainable fashion feels personal to me. Choosing to rewear, repair, or recycle clothing is a simple but powerful way to slow things down. When we keep clothes in use longer, we reduce the demand for constant production and help prevent perfectly wearable items from becoming waste. Sustainable fashion isn’t about being perfect or giving up style, it’s about being more intentional with what we already have.
I’ve also come to appreciate the people behind the clothes. Tailors, seamstresses, and personal shoppers play a crucial role in giving garments a second life, reminding us that fashion doesn’t end once something is damaged or outdated. Supporting sustainable fashion means supporting skilled workers and valuing craftsmanship over convenience.
At the end of the day, the future of fashion depends on the small, everyday choices we make. When we choose brands and systems that prioritize reuse, care, and sustainability, we’re helping reduce waste in landfills and move the industry in a healthier direction. Sustainable fashion isn’t just a trend, it’s an important mindset shift, and one that feels more necessary than ever.
If you’re ready to be part of that change, start by rethinking how you wear and care for your clothes. Join ReWear to extend the life of your wardrobe, reduce fashion waste, and support a more sustainable future, one outfit at a time.
Fashion Trends Are Always Changing
Jessica Medel
December 9th, 2025
Fashion has always been defined by change. What’s considered stylish one year can feel outdated the next, and trend cycles are moving faster than ever before. With the rise of social media, influencers, and online shopping, new trends appear almost overnight and disappear just as quickly. While this constant evolution keeps fashion exciting, it also encourages a mindset that prioritizes novelty over longevity.
In the past, trends typically changed with the seasons. Today, they can change weekly, or even daily, driven by viral moments, fast-production timelines, and algorithm-fueled content. As a result, people are pressured to constantly update their wardrobes to stay “on trend.” Clothes are bought, worn a few times, and then abandoned as soon as the next aesthetic takes over, creating an endless cycle of consumption.
The rapid pace of trend changes has a real environmental impact. Fast fashion brands race to produce new styles at low costs, often sacrificing quality and sustainability in the process. When these trend-based pieces fall out of favor, they’re rarely reused or repaired. Instead, they’re thrown away, adding to the growing problem of textile waste in landfills.
This constant shift also affects how we view our relationship with clothing. Instead of seeing garments as long-term investments or expressions of personal style, fashion becomes disposable. The value of craftsmanship, tailoring, and thoughtful design is often overshadowed by the need to keep up with what’s “new.”
Sustainable fashion offers an alternative to this pattern. It encourages people to step back from trend-chasing and focus on pieces that can adapt, be reworn, repaired, and styled in multiple ways. Timeless clothing, secondhand options, and subscription models help consumers enjoy fashion without contributing to waste. Trends may change, but that doesn’t mean our clothes have to be thrown away with them.
At its best, fashion should be creative, expressive, and personal, not exhausting or wasteful. By slowing down and rethinking how trends influence our choices, we can enjoy fashion while building a more responsible and sustainable future.
Why a Subscription Model Like ReWear Is the Future of Fashion
Jessica Medel
December 9th, 2025
Fast fashion has changed the way we consume clothing. Trends move quickly, prices are low, and the pressure to constantly buy something new feels almost unavoidable. While this system makes fashion accessible, it also creates massive waste, with millions of garments ending up in landfills every year. As trend cycles speed up, the environmental and social costs of fast fashion continue to grow, which is why alternative models, like fashion subscriptions, are becoming more important than ever.
A subscription-based fashion model like ReWear works because it shifts the focus from ownership to access. Instead of buying clothes to keep forever, subscribers rotate pieces in and out of their wardrobes. This allows one garment to be worn and loved by many people over its lifetime, significantly extending its use and reducing the need for constant production of new clothing. When clothes are designed to be reused, repaired, and restyled, they stay out of landfills longer and make better use of the resources that went into creating them.
Subscription models also respond perfectly to the problem of rapidly changing trends. Fashion trends may change monthly, but a subscription service allows people to refresh their style without purchasing new items each time a trend shifts. Subscribers can explore new looks, return items they’re done with, and move on without guilt or clutter. This flexibility satisfies the desire for variety while breaking the habit of disposable shopping.
ReWear’s model goes a step further by supporting skilled labor through seamstresses and personal shoppers. Garments are repaired, tailored, and curated instead of discarded, reinforcing the idea that clothing has value beyond a single wear. This not only improves garment quality and longevity but also supports ethical employment and craftsmanship, values often lost in fast fashion systems.
Ultimately, a subscription model like ReWear offers a smarter, more sustainable way to participate in fashion. It aligns with how people actually want to dress, which is creatively, affordably, and responsibly, while actively addressing the waste and overconsumption caused by fast fashion. By reimagining how clothes are used rather than how fast they’re made, ReWear helps create a future where fashion is circular, inclusive, and sustainable.
Giving Clothes a Second Life
Jessica Medel
December 9th, 2025
In today’s fast-paced fashion industry, clothing is often treated as disposable. A loose seam, a broken zipper, or a slightly outdated style can quickly push a perfectly wearable garment to the back of a closet, or worse, into the trash. This mindset has become so normalized that repairing clothes is often seen as unnecessary or inconvenient, even though many garments are thrown away long before they’ve reached the end of their usable life.
The reality is that small repairs and thoughtful alterations can dramatically extend the lifespan of clothing. Sewing a button back on, reinforcing a hem, or tailoring a piece to fit better can give a garment years of additional wear. Every time a piece of clothing is repaired instead of replaced, it reduces the need for new production, saving water, energy, and raw materials, and lowering overall carbon emissions. In an industry that consumes enormous resources, repair and reuse are among the most effective ways to reduce environmental harm.
Beyond the environmental impact, repair and reuse help restore value to clothing. Fast fashion has encouraged us to view clothes as temporary, but when garments are repaired and cared for, they become investments rather than throwaway items. This shift changes the way we shop and the way we think about our wardrobes, promoting quality and longevity over constant consumption.
ReWear is built on this exact principle. By incorporating skilled tailors and seamstresses into its model, ReWear ensures that pre-loved clothing is not only wearable but well-maintained and thoughtfully updated. Garments are repaired, refreshed, and sometimes even reimagined before reaching the next subscriber. This process keeps clothing in circulation longer and prevents usable items from ending up in landfills.
Repair and reuse also support ethical labor and craftsmanship, elements often overlooked in mainstream fashion. Supporting seamstresses and tailors helps preserve valuable skills while creating meaningful job opportunities. Instead of mass-producing cheap replacements, ReWear invests in people who give garments a second life, reinforcing a more humane and responsible fashion system.
Ultimately, repair and reuse challenge the idea that sustainability requires sacrifice. They prove that small, intentional actions can lead to significant change. By choosing models like ReWear that prioritize extending the life of clothing, we take a meaningful step toward reducing waste, slowing down fast fashion, and building a future where fashion respects both people and the planet.