Why Recycling Our Clothes Won’t Save The World | Leslie Johnston | TEDxINSEAD
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 มิ.ย. 2024
- Globally, our love of fashion generates one garbage truck full of textile waste every second. But we have the power to change this and disrupt how we think about buying, using, and reusing the clothes we wear. To do so, we need to get out of our comfort zones, embrace innovation, and not be afraid to try a bit of sustainable glitter now and then. Leslie Johnston joined C&A Foundation as its first Executive Director in August 2013 and brings over 20 years of management experience across multiple sectors, including smallholder agribusiness, entrepreneurship and corporate philanthropy. At C&A Foundation, Leslie led the development of the foundation’s first global vision, mission, and strategy, anchored on making fashion a force for good.
Leslie currently serves on the boards of COFRA Foundation (Switzerland), GoodWeave International (US), CottonConnect (UK), and the Organic Cotton Accelerator (NL) as well as the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs’ Executive Committee.
Leslie is the proud mother to two boys (ages 10 and 12) and wife to a Scottish writer. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx
It fascinates me whenever I hear about people throwing out t-shirts after a few wears. If they're too worn for outside wear we turn them into night shirts or relax/house shirts since after tons of washes they're wonderfully soft and comfortable. Once they're too thin for that they get added to the rag bin and used until shredded. Now that my mom has discovered how to turn them into t-shirt yarn to crochet with it adds another step on their life cycle.
I do the same, but mine ends up as cloth scraps for DIY. but thank for the crochet tip. Going to use it to make shopping bags from now on.
Yes, the word for pajamas comes from the Persian (Farsi) words " pir jamir" which means old clothes. Wear your best and newest clothes in public, you older clothes at home and your oldest clothes to bed.
@@lorimav wow
It amazes me too! I still have sweaters that I bought 20 years ago (regularly worn). Especially in the lockdown, where there are no rules to clothes, it is easy to wear old clothes.
Great idea! And for those that have an issue with wearing other peoples clothing this story might help change their thinking. Years ago a famous TV anchor (with a six figure income) bragged about buying some of her clothes from a local Goodwill store. She actually wore them with pride. Her story inspired my wife to buy 2nd hand clothing which kept her "in style" and saved us thousands $.
Just bring it home and wash it. It'll be fine!
100 years ago, most people only had a few clothes or outfits, so they wore all the clothes in their closet. People tended to buy good quality clothes, because they lasted longer, and they got the wear out of the those clothes. Today, we buy fast fashion items, that only last a few wearing, but most people throw them out after ONE wearing. The quality is so poor, that even recycling companies don't want them.
Only 30 yrs ago in India we had few clothes but really satisfied now we have overloaded closets but keep searching for new clothes either online or live shopping moreover no takers of old clothes make me feel guilty but keep doing same😑
recycle clothing might not save the world but certainly is a big step in keeping landfills smaller
It doesn't though. Videos on YT show that masses of the clothes donated end up flooding Third World Countries who can't dispose of it and a lot of it in the West goes to landfill. It is not a solution, it is an illusion unfortunately ; ) K
I am a cheapskate. I buy my clothes at a thriftstore, and wear them until the holes start appearing and then my husband uses them as rags in his garage. Afterwards, we burn them in our stove and it keeps us warm.
@@verreal then again, it does depend on the kind of stove
You are not cheaps, you are wise, wise people not need spend too much money to be wealthy, wise people even withe little money can make miralces, and dress like rich, wise people don't spend too much, to have good things...
Save the world
Buy less and less clothes, and get more wear out of the ones we already have. Donating clothes, buying second hand, etc. is like throwing cupfuls of water out of a sinking ship. I'm definitely buying less now, as I haven't bought any clothes this year and I bought just one coat last year. The future looks very depressing.
"We don't want it to just be less bad. We want it to be more good" yes!!!
I buy cheap, but I also use it past it’s expected life; i know how to sew.
I live on a boat so I’ve seriously had to condense down to just the basics.
me: Oh wow a ted talk
TED TALK COMMENTS: "I WOULD NEVER DO SUCH A THING. I HAVE BOUGHT AMERICAN ALL MY LIFE AND IF AMERICAN IS NOT AN oPTiOn I bUy FrOm THriFt STORES"
I buy my clothes at yard sales and thrift stores and give them to a thrift shop when I don't wear them any more. I also use them as rags instead of buying paper towels.
I get my clothes second hand. I wear them for years until they fall apart. Then I sleep in the old shirts and the old slacks get cut up. Rags are for cleaning.
My towels are 20 years old. When they get ratty, they go to pet shelters or become rags. I try to only buy 3 new items each year. Tina
The clothing industry is like Big Agriculture - we are turned into addicts.
It's up to you whether you are turned into an addict or not
love this
I just generally try to buy things that I will use for a long time. It's hard to do, when everything seems to be made so cheaply. I can sew a rip, but can't fix when the fabric wears so thin that it falls apart.
I think there are a lot of people who, like me, are picky and/or frugal and try to keep our homes and closets free of clutter. But the people who don't care about that are probably not going to care, to be honest. People who get a new wardrobe every season or get a new phone just because a more trendy one came out. Out of sight, out of mind. I don't mean to shame these people, but there must be some better way of conveying a message to them.
The overproduction of consumer goods is a product of the demand for cheap items made by cheap labor. It will take a lot of work to reduce this demand from people like ourselves, and an even longer time for manufacturing to reflect that decrease.
I give my unwanted cloths to a local thrift store that caters to low-income shoppers. I feel much better than if I were to throw them in some bin on a street corner to be hauled off to God-knows where.
Thrift stores are expensive though, they have to pay for their location and employment. We need bigger buy nothing groups. You can directly give clothes that others need on those buy nothing groups at no cost to them. That directly helps you reduce and they save some money that can be used for essentials. It seems the glory days are over in the US and the middle class will have less and less overall money to work with.
Even if you donate your clothes a proportion will be sent for recycling and a significant amount will end up in landfill.
I am a nudist so I don't wear clothes everyday.
You are saving the world in your own little way.
Yes!
Innovating is CRITICAL...changing the way we bring...colours to our clothes... to "swish" amongst friends....RENT clothes!...shop thrift stores....
but...
until then, TO STOP consuming is the best, we CAN do.
What do you think???
Buying....what...we NEED... (not wishing that we need it! ;)....yes, to begin by responsibly thinking
" DO I reallllly need this?"
.... thank you so much for this informative video!!!
helene :)
I applaud her good intentions, but we've got a much bigger mess on our plate; one much bigger than just clothes or waste or human degradation, i'm sorry but i firmly believe that so long as we continue to use, participate, advocate and practice an outdated economic system, with its institutions, ideologies and philosophies, one that prioritizes profit above the environment, above our leaders, above our nations, but biggest of all above human well-being, a system that in fact incentives the very thing that she advocates the reduction and removal of, and a system that manifests itself thru environmental destruction, war, poverty, chaos, this problem only looks to intensify everyday, its beginning to be time to realize that capitalism, tho superior in the last 300 years has lost its popularity but mainly its usefulness, we are starting to no longer need labor for income, everything will and can be mechanized and automated if it weren't for the old system rebelling against change that would eliminate its existence, the lil labor that would still be required must exist without the monetary system
I do agree with you but our environmental crisis is an imminent issue, and the only way to do absolutely anything about it right now IS to go with the grain and figure out how we can make changes using the current system to our advantage,while also simultaneously working to move away from an exploitive system. We can't dismiss recycling efforts that use the capitalist model to function as being the same, though they may engage in similar practices their end goal is different and that's a start.
Slightly different from the point you were making but still something I thought was equally important
It saves fashion up cycling
I buy much at thrift. I buy classic well made peices that wear for decades. I never by trendy or cheap. Less clothes better made clothes last longer.
Wow amazing video I opening 👌😏
I didn't understand she is saying about reuse or not reuse!
You are not cheapskate , you are wise, wise people not need spend too much money to be wealthy, wise people even withe little money can make miralces, and dress like rich, wise people don't spend too much, to have good things.
Can someone tell me if it's the truth that rich countries throw away clothes after using them only a few times ?
Is it that widely prevalent? As much as it is called out in the media ?
Now that I think about it, I've always just take it in a stride, but truthfully, do people really just dump clothes after wearing them for a couple of times ?
For rich people, yes I think that occasionally happens. Not for middle class or below. What is more common is that fast fashion is made so cheap that a garment might fall apart after a single use. That happened to me once years ago, and I started buying higher quality second-hand designer or high-end brands. Is is not acceptable in most office jobs to wear clothes that have visible mending, so if a garment falls apart or gets a visible hole because of how thin the fabric is, you must replace it.
The truth is more innocent than what's in the news. It's the baby clothes your child outgrows. It's the pretty dress that doesn't fit anymore. It's the gift you can't return. It's the sale items that you can't pass up. It's the thrift shop purchases that fill the closet. All these little decisions make for full closets.
I felt good about recycling until I was told it's just going to landfills in foreign countries or smelted into new products.
What's wrong with it being smelted into new products
The workers died in Bangladesh not in India. Giving wrong information. The working conditions in India is not so bad.
yes she doesn't even know what she is talking about, everbody knows this accident is happened in bangladesh.
who cares, both are shitholes
@@ffffuchs apathetic people ruin the world
@@ffffuchs Just pull yourself together and show some f*cking respect.
working conditions in India are horrible too wtf
It is decreasing and use because they are wearing out so fast.
"Dignified" jobs is a good comment ; ) K
Oh. Do your research, lady.
Please elaborate.
I think she did not support her statement "Why Recycling Our Clothes Won’t Save The World"!!!! If someone do not agree, please let me know why.
We literally just can't win when we're trying to become greener it literally impossible
Less bad is still bad..
This video is incredibly misleading...
how?
explain more
I couldn't agree more! This woman should be the last person on earth to be giving speech on such a subject! I don't like saying negative thoughts about others better constructive dialogue but this one-I couldn't contain myself! What a performance of actress and not a speech!!! 20 years in C&A and no change!!!
Is it the right approach to mention these kind of things?
"by wearing clothes we providing millions of jobs to poorest countries in the world"
I agree with you, that's a wrong approach.
Better encourage population control
Yes and no! But I can agree with you on what you want to say.
I hated it too.....that was elitist
I agree knowing many of those workers in these countries are making dirt cheap wages, and use child labor many cases.
Yeah, I noticed that too. Unenlightened and patronizing statement.... If you don't create sweatshops in poorer countries, they'll find other and more sustainable ways to survive. Or, they will take family planning more seriously.
The way she talks about third world countries!
She's a lunatic! If you want to improve things, have them made if your own country. Let's stop rising the rest of the world up.
Such remarkable generosity of spirit!
well you heard her, ladies, start wearing less, show some more skin, and you'd be saving the environment