Clothing is cheaper than it has ever been, which makes it more accessible, but also more disposable. In fact, the average American throws out 68 lbs of clothing each year, which results in roughly 1,250,000 tons of post consumer waste. Of this 68 lbs, only an average of 10 lbs is recycled (usually via donating it to a charity). The remaining post consumer waste is either incinerated or relegated to a landfill, and both have serious environmental implications. Burning textiles emits dioxins, dust particles, etc. Textiles decomposing in landfills is also environmentally unsound. It takes thousands of years for textiles to decompose in a landfill, and as the materials decompose byproducts such as methane (a greenhouse gas), leachate, and ammonia are created. Of the 1.25 million tons of post consumer textile waste put into landfills every year, it is estimated that 95% could be recycled.
That’s all just post-consumer textile waste- -to manufacture new textiles requires a huge investment of water and energy, and in addition to the textiles, there is a host of waste being generated both affecting surface and ground water and the air. In addition to the environmental implications of textile manufacturing, there is also the issue that a significant number of textile manufacturers are utilizing cheap foreign labor.
Re-purposing recycled textiles results in no new textiles being manufactured (i.e. no pre-consumer waste generated, no water and energy used) and it also saves materials from winding up in your local landfill.
That being said, recycling, sustainability and supporting local markets are all part of the focus for Muffinhead. All materials used in the dog jackets (with the exception of the Velcro and threads) are gathered from local sources and all of the jackets are made in Portland, which supports our local economy. Additionally, because the jackets are constructed from recycled textiles, each garment is unique.
