The fashion industry is one of the most polluting industries in the world. It produces 10% of all humanity’s carbon emissions, pollutes the ocean with microplastics and is the second-largest consumer of the world’s water supply. For making one t-shirt, 2700 liters of water is needed. Those cheap clothing might be an advantage for your wallet, but it comes at a big environmental cost.

Besides that the making of textile is polluting, millions of kilos of clothing are dumped each year. Less than 1% of textile in the world is recycled as clothing. To combat this waste and pollution, the European Union wants to be climate neutral in 2050. They proposed a plan for a circular economy focused on all industries, so also the fashion industry.

Sympany is a company in the Netherlands that collects millions of kilos of clothing each year. People in the Netherlands can leave their clothing in special bins, then all those clothing is transported to Sympany. ‘Everything we do is to contribute to the circular fashion industry. Our main goal is to give all pieces a new place. Clothing that is still wearable, is sorted and sold to secondhand stores in other countries in Europe. For clothing that isn’t wearable, we try to find recycling options for it,’ so said Sanne de Lorme, spokesperson of Sympany.