London – US denim giant Levi Strauss has expanded its clothing recycling
initiative with to all its stores within Europe, beginning
with the UK.
The initiative, which encourages consumers to buy better and recycle more,
was first introduced in the in July, 2014. The project enabled consumers
to recycle unwanted clothing and shoes to cut back on the amount of waste
textiles sent to landfills each year and was rolled out with success across
the US in 2015.
Now Levi’s aims to bring the initiative to Europe, starting in the UK. From
March onwards, consumers are able to drop-off any brand of clean, dry
clothing or shoes in a specially designed collection box at their local
Levi’s store in exchange for a voucher offering 10 percent discount on a
single, non-discounted item in-store. Levi’s aims to roll out the recycling
project to all its stores across Europe by the end of 2017.
“We’re thinking about sustainability across all facets of our business and
how to shift consumer behavior to make recycling clothing the norm,” said
Michael Kobori, vice president of sustainability at Levi Strauss & Co in a
statement. “As an industry leader, we consider all phases of our product
lifecycle, including stages beyond our direct control like the product’s
end point. Collecting used clothing at our stores makes it simple and easy
for consumers to do their part and builds upon our commitment to do the
right thing for the environment.”
Although a many consumers recycle bottles, cans and paper, many still throw
away or discard their unwanted clothing – in fact, the UK throws away
approximately 350,000 tons of unwanted clothing into unsustainable
landfills each year. A recent study from Barnardo’s indicates that the
majority of women only wear garments an average of seven times before
discarding them to the back of their wardrobes or tossing them out,
something Levi’s hopes to counter with its recycling initiative.
“We admire Levi Strauss & Co’s vision and impressive sustainability
efforts. We are proud to be expanding our partnership to increase consumer
access to clothing and shoe recycling opportunities,” said Jennifer
Gilbert, I:CO USA’s Chief Marketing Officer. “This in-store take back
program not only makes it easy for consumers to recycle their unwanted
items, but also helps create much-needed awareness about the challenge of
textile waste and the aim to keep these items in an everlasting cycle.”
Expanding their clothing and shoe recycling initiative is the latest step
in Levi’s ongoing scheme to develop an internal infrastructure which
supports a circular economy for all its products. The denim giant
is currently investing in product development to design more items with
recycling in mind, so that a garment’s lifecycle can be extended
through durability as well as repairs and then downcycled to make new
products, such as insulation, or upcycled into new garments.
Clothing recycling is becoming more and more common among key, global
fashion retailers, with Swedish fast-fashion giant being one of the first mass-market retailers
to introduce a recycling initiative in store in exchange for a discount
voucher.