Wearable Collections accepts all used clean clothing including shoes and hats. We also accept household items such as curtains, linens, towels, handbags and belts. We do not accept carpeting. If you need to recycle carpet please go to: http://www.carpetrecovery.net

Many people would be surprised to find out that textile and clothing waste takes up around 5 % of our municipal waste stream. Of these items 95% can be re-use in one way or another, whether it is re-used as second hand clothing, rags or for low-grade fiber products.  Recycling clothing is a way to preserve natural resources, and save municipalities the cost of dumping useful items.

The clothing is brought to a  facility where it is sorted into different grades: re-usable as second hand clothing, wiping rags, and scrap that will be shredded for low grade fiber products.  The second hand clothing will be shipped to emerging markets throughout the world, and get to the final consumer cost effectively.

Wearable Collections is a for-profit organization that serves as an agent for non-profit organizations. We handle all the logisitcs of the clothing collections and dedicate a portion of the proceeds to our charitable partners.

No, sorry we do not provide receipts for the NYC home pick ups since we are not a non-for-profit organization. However, our relationship with the GrowNYC  enables us to hand out tax deductible receipts at the 20 weekly greenmarket locations in which we collect textiles.

Our recycling rates are very consistent with the industry standard.

According to SMART (Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles), industry standard is the following:

• 45% is used as apparel which is exported to developing nations, where demand for secondhand clothing is particularly high
• 30% of recovered textiles become wiping rags for commercial and industrial purposes
• 20% is reprocessed into fibers for furniture stuffing, upholstery, insulation, sound proofing, carpet padding, building and other materials
• 5% is unusable and not fit for recycling

NO! We have done collections as far away as Boston and Washington DC.

There is no limit to how far we can host a collection. The caveat is that in order to travel certain distances, the amount of clothing required for pick-up must reach a minimum. Contact us to find out what the minimum is for your area.

Absolutely none! Wearable Collections will provide you with a clothing recycling bin, and then implement our weekly service, all for FREE!

While we love to make clothing recycling as convenient as possible for everyone, we need to adhere to strict minimums for home pick ups. Wearable Collections only exists because of our ability to run an efficient company both economically and ecologically. For this reason the following are our minimum bag requirements: (1 bag = 30 gallon kitchen bag)

• Manahattan — 5 bags
• Brooklyn — 15 bags
• Queens, Bronx and Staten Island — 40 bags

We don’t mean to discriminate. This simply reflects the frequency in which we operate in each area. If you yourself can’t come up with the yield, perhaps you can ask some neighbors.  They too, may appreciate our service.

Also, we throw events often in each borough so sign up for our newsletter or follow us on facebook and twitter to keep track of when we will be in your area.

YES! We are now collecting used clothing and textiles at 18 weekly greenmarket locations in partnership with GrowNYC. Your donations helps to support GrowNYC’s environmental and greeening programs. Click here for the full schedule and location information. You can also sign up for GrowNYC’s newsletter here and get updates on our special one-day collections.