apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I had a friend that made a quilt out of hers. I can get the pattern for it if you like!

Operation Quiet Comfort has a project where they use denim squares to make quilts for wounded soldiers. The squares all carry messages of support from civilians. I imagine they might take donations of old jeans or you might be able to find someone who is working on the project who can use your old jeans (I give all of mine to my sister in TN who prepares squares and has them signed for the project). You can read about the project here: http://www.operationquietcomfort.com/Projects.html

I wrote a detailed blog post about this very same subject a few months ago - http://groovygreen.com/groove/?p=934

Another good link - http://www.recycleyourjeans.com/

Take your jeans or any other clothes to the Sally Ann (Salvation Army). If the clothes are too worn out, they bale them and sell them as rags. Many good clothes end up in Africa where they are worn proudly

I myself (a design professional) buy sport jackets at the salvation army. In Montreal, you can get a decent jacket for 7 to 12 bucks!

The Gee's Bend show had some phenomenal quilts made of denim that was worn hard. Seriously beautiful, and evocative of all the work people had done in the clothes.

That insulation use is pretty cool. I saw it on a tv show, Sundance "The Green" programming no doubt. Love to know more...

The old-school way to recycle jeans with shredded hems and/or knees was to take a pair of shears and make them into shorts. Your shorts were officially too short if the white pocket lining hung past the bottom of the legs.

This is from the 1970s Era of Deprivation, the time of showering with a friend, turning lights off upon leaving the room, and doing laundry with cold water. Yes, hot pants may have been an environmental statement.

My sister and brother-in-law are building a small house in rural New Hampshire and are using recycled cotton insulation which is primarily scraps from jeans production. I saw some when I was up there and it really does look like chewed up jeans. It costs more, but they like it because it's completely safe to handle and also adds some extra soundproofing.

Victoria E - I read your blog post and might consider the Denim Therapy. Each pair of jeans ripped in the exact same place! But if fixed, it probably wouldn't be noticeable.

I had considered Goodwill, but my mother always told me to donate gently used clothing, not ones which where ripped or had holes in them.

Thanks everyone for all of the resources!!

There is a non-profit that turns old jeans into insulation. Can't remember what it's called, but Ralph Lauren does projects with them sometimes...

Hey there,
Check local universities about up coming DENIM DRIVE events -often called "COTTON'S DIRTY LAUNDRY TOUR". Visit COTTON INC'S and check out the "FROM BLUE TO GREEN" program they have or contact Habitat for Humanity they also can provide info about recycling old jeans and transforming them into insulation.

Happy Earth Day!
Voncict

You might check with your municipal recycling program. The one in my city actually takes clothing. Clothing can actually have a very long life cycle after you're finished with it. What some donation centers do is put clothes in bales and export them to other countries or take the unusable clothes and sell them as industrial rags. Certain kinds of fibers like denim and cashmere can be reused and made into other types of products.