The benefit of repurposing clothes from old clothes

Kyla Alleyne
DIVINE Magazine Detroit
3 min readAug 14, 2023

Repurposing/up-cycling your old clothes has several financial and environmental benefits. Repurposing clothes is something that lots of people are doing now these days. If you don’t know, buy or even thrift clothes. You can save money by redesigning your old clothes into something new, whether a dress into a skirt and shirt or something similar. There are endless ways you can repurpose your clothes, which can help you save money and helps the environment too.

According to DONA BELA SHREDS, the main benefit, among others, of repurposing your old clothing is for environmental reasons. It states, "With up-cycling, the need for additional raw materials is drastically reduced which would require less of a need for certain chemicals to be used during production. This process helps tackle issues like poor air quality, the amount of waste that ends up in landfills, water pollution, greenhouse emissions, and saves our rainforests.” If you have been wanting to repurpose your old clothes but want to learn more about the benefits of it, then stick around.

The environmental impact that repurposing has is more than the pollution and greenhouse effects, it also helps encourage sustainable practices. Panaprium states, “Instead of supporting the throwaway culture, upcycling encourages buyers to purchase fewer clothes and higher quality. It’s one of the best ways to be more sustainable with clothes. Upcycling raises awareness around the social and environmental issues within the apparel industry. It promotes ethical fashion and a more conscious approach to consuming clothing.”

By making a change to repurposing your old clothing, you are helping the movement of sustainable living. It brings awareness to both social and environmental issues that some people might be aware of or choose to resist for several reasons. By helping out, you are making a global and local change to the people around you and the environment.

Another big benefit of repurposing your old clothes is helping those in need/ community support. It states on Stoney Creek Farm that “With some basic sewing techniques on hand, you can transform your old pieces into new styles.” Repurposing your old clothes into something new is easy if you know how to sew. You can also turn this into a new hobby, another smaller benefit. Repurposing can be something you do in your free time; you grab a couple of things you don’t wear or like anymore, grab your sewing machine, and just start with something small, like turning a jumpsuit or romper into a two-piece outfit.

The last benefit of repurposing is that it can save you lots of money. Clothes now these days can cost quite a bit of money depending on where you get them from. If you don’t want to go to thrift stores, redesigning your clothes can be another option for you to give your wardrobe the change that it's been needing for less. All it takes is time, old clothing, and sewing skills to start redesigning your old clothes.

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Kyla Alleyne
DIVINE Magazine Detroit

I am a 22 year old college student and future business owner. I love baking, cooking,writing and anything creative.