Only 10% of recycled clothing gets re-sold. The rest goes mainly to landfill. And, as exemplified by this article of clothing I rescued from Fountain Creek, some of it goes into our lakes, rivers, and streams.
More than 60 percent of fabric fibers are now synthetics, derived from fossil fuels, so if and when our clothing ends up in a landfill (about 85 percent of textile waste in the United States goes to landfills or is incinerated), it will not decay. Nor will the synthetic microfibers that end up in the sea, freshwater and elsewhere, including the deepest parts of the oceans and the highest glacier peaks.
23"x44" Reclaimed Victoria's Secret Woman's Tank Top, Thread, Hand-embroidered, Encaustic, Stick by Sheary Clough Suiter
Reconstructs
The nature of today's fashion industry is to discard and replace; in the United States, a staggering 85 percent of our textiles go to the dump each year; the equivalent of one garbage truck of clothing burned or dumped in a landfill every second. These free-hanging sculptures seek to re-envision and re-purpose articles of clothing that might otherwise end up in landfills.
