Given the speed at which children grow, it can be overwhelming for parents to have so many clothes. In San Antonio, two mothers have started a business out of their garage to reduce overconsumption.
Kara Livingston and Nicole Boynton are the owners of Hand Me Up.
They have been sorting and cleaning children’s clothing since high school.
Boynton explained that he curates secondhand clothes for children and then has them packed into mixed-and-matched bundles to ship straight to him.
Livingston stated, “You can go to our website, and basically all you need to do is enter your child’s size and climate preferences, basically, hot or cold clothing and gender.”
Seven items of secondhand clothing are available for $47 plus shipping. You get $10 off if you return a bag, let’s just say, of clothing that doesn’t fit your child. You get $30 off if you sign-up for monthly deliveries.
Livingston explained that “some of the sizes shown on our site are in months.” Livingston said that there is a period when they grow very fast. The crazy thing about overconsumption and waste is that they aren’t being worn in three to six month. These textiles have more life than they used to, so it’s possible for them to be still useful.
These mothers were interested in ethical fashion and came up with the idea. According to them, they wanted to ensure that they didn’t buy too many clothes.
Boynton stated that “our whole goal is give families a safe place where they can send their clothes, and we will do our best to get them to someone that needs them.”
The National Institute of Standards and Technology is a government agency with a team dedicated to researching the circular economy of textiles. Kelsea Schmacher is one of these researchers.
Schumacher stated that NIST’s definition of circular economy is “keeping atoms and molecules within the economy as long as possible, and keeping them out of undesirable things like the environment, landfills or incinerators.” That means the economics of extending the lives of products by reusing, repair, refurbishment and finally recycling.
According to a report from the Environmental Protection Agency, only 15 percent of textiles, like clothes, get reused. Rest are often thrown out.
Schumacher claims textiles are one of America’s fastest-growing waste industries. Livingston and Boynton both say that shopping for clothing is still fun.
Textile researchers suggest that you could recycle clothes that are beyond their use. You can search online for information about local collection programs.