We can barely contain our excitement with the news that Wearable Collections will be among the legions of wonderful organizations profiled on the Anderson Cooper 360° show. The taping was completed a couple of months ago and according to our sources will be aired on Sept 1st , either at the 10pm slot or 11pm.  The AC 360° team conducted an interview at the Wearable offices, and followed us around to get a first hand look at Wearable’s operations.  We really enjoyed our time with them, and though we didn’t get to meet Anderson Cooper himself, anytime he would like to be a guest collector at the greenmarkets, he is very welcome.

We know that children have mixed emotions towards the beginning of the school year.  Another thing we know is how much kiddies enjoy participating in a clothing drive. Clothing drives are not only a great educational tool to explain the need to recycle clothes, they are also a way for your PTA to raise some well needed funds.  Throughout the 2009-2010 school year we hosted dozens of drives throughout the Tri-State area and were able to help schools raise thousands of dollars.  There is no school too big or too small.  We would love to work with you all!  If you would like to sign your school up for a clothing drive, please fill out the following form or email us at info@wearablecollections.com

It seems like yesterday that we were reporting to you our first major milestone of passing the 1 million pounds collected mark. Well, what took us nearly five years to accomplish in the first place, has been matched in the past year.   We owe a debt of gratitude to all of you for helping us reach this achievement.  From the 150 residential buildings and 9 greenmarket locations to the hundreds of collection partners we work with annually, this could not work without your cooperation.  We still have a long way to go  but are confident with the great staff we have and wonderful relationships we are forging that together we can make textile waste a thing of the past.

(photo courtesy of C-M)

The Wearable team is proud to announce that 50 Murray St has recycled the greatest yield of clothing for the first six months of 2010.  We want to thank everyone for their efforts and look forward to strong second half of the year. Here is a list of the poundage recycled by our top ten buildings:

1)  50 Murray st.————————————5200 lbs.

2)  The Helena , 601 w 57th st- —————-4350 lbs.

3)  The Solaire, 20 river terrace- —————4125 lbs.

4)  The Renaissance ,130 Malcolm X  Blvd—3888 lbs.

5)  The Verdesian, 211 North End Ave ——–3763 lbs.

6)  The Vanguard, 77th W 24th —————-3600 lbs.

7)  88 Leonard St ———————————3400 lbs.

8)  The Monterrey,175 E 96th St  ————–3200 lbs.

9)  The Victory , 561 10th Ave——————3038 lbs.

10) Lincoln Guild, 303 66th St——————2988 lbs.

Other collectors worthy of mention:

Columbia University Law School ————–5488 lbs.

Top complex of multiple buildings

Seward Park —————————————9450 lbs.

Top one-day drive

Stony Brook University dorm clean up——- 5500 lbs.

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Don’t be dismayed if your building isn’t on the list this half of the year.  This isn’t People’s 50 Most Beautiful list.  With a little grit, determination and communication, your residents can make it to the top of the charts.

If your building isn’t recycling clothes yet, please fill out this form so we can get the program started pronto!

We were very honored to be featured in a NY Times story about the impending expansion of Textile Recycling as part of the city’s recycling program.  Though it is still very early in the selection program, Wearable’s does not appear to be able to participate in the new program due to our For-Profit status.  We are extremely disappointed by this and will keep you up to date on any news. But, thanks to NY times for bringing some light to the subject.

Please come out and support our great friends and partner at the NYC greenmarkets on Tuesday, May 11 at the Water Taxi beach South Street Seaport from 6pm- 9pm.    GrowNYC work tirelessly on making New York a cleaner and greener city. We all owe them a debt of gratitude and this is a great evening to show them our thanks.

Clothing Recycling 101

40 Days, 40 Colleges to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day

Wearable Collections is celebrating the 40th anniversary of Earth Day with an exciting recycling challenge. Our goal is to conduct clothing drives on 40 college campuses over the course of 40 days.

The Challenge

According to the Council of Textile Recycling, the average American discards of 68 lbs of textiles annually. That correlates to 340,000 lbs of textile waste for a campus of 5000 students. We are looking for motivated students to organize a clothing collection on campus. Whether you represent an environmental club, sports club or fraternity/sorority, this is an opportunity to stand out as a leader on campus.  Wearable Collections will provide you with all the support you need to ensure  a successful clothing drive. The only requirement is the enthusiasm to make a difference on campus.

The Reward

When less clothing ends up in landfills we are all winners. However, on top of feeling good for taking a proactive stance on the environment, Wearable Collections will dedicate 25% of the gross proceeds from the collections to either your organization or the organization of your choice.   It is possible to raise as much as $1000 for your organization.

Rules

We at Wearable Collections aren’t exactly stickler for rules, but we do request that you contact us by April 10th, 2010. The duration of the collections is up to the respective organizations, but we feel to maximize promotion and collections, the drive should be at least one week.

Depending on the region where you are hosting the drive, there will be a deadline set for the day of collections as follows:

Washington DC (and 60 mile vicinity) – The pick-up date will be Friday April 16th

Philadelphia (and 60 mile vicinity) – The pick-up date will be

Thursday April 22, Earth Day!

New York City (and 60 mile vicinity) – The pick-up date will be Friday April 30th

Boston (and 60 mile vicinity)- The pick-up date will be Friday May 7th

For more information on how you can be an eco-ambassador on campus please e-mail us at ecorep@wearablecollections.com or simply fill out this form and we will contact you swiftly.

Courtesy of our friend Mike Lieberman

Wearable Collections wants to be clear that we are here for you, fashion industry. There is no need for you to be slashing your clothes and sending them to landfills. There has to be a better solution.  If you read the NYTimes, or one of our faves, racked.com (photo courtesy of Racked), you may have noticed the hub-bub H & M have brought upon themselves by slashing and tossing perfectly good apparel.   We are not even going to pretend to  know what goes on in the mind of some  corporations.  We do know that it is customary for them to slash samples and returns. Obviously, the companies have a right to protect proprietary designs. It just seems wrong on multiple levels in this era both economically and environmentally to be continuing these rituals.  Wearable Collections would like to offer our service to to any company who would like to break this habit.  We are already collecting nearly 100,000 lbs of used clothing a month in the NYC metro area.  We could easily include any and all of your stores as part of our daily collections. We can even provide you with a clothing recycling bin free of charge so that your customers can easily recycle clothes within your stores.  Once the clothing is collected, it is brought to a sorting facility to determine a new home for it.  Industry standard calls for 50% of these items to be re-used as second hand clothing,  providing cheap clothing in emerging markets, 25% of the collected items will be used as rags in heavy industry, and 20 % is sent to facilities where they are broken down into fibers to be re-used as low grade fiber products. From any load 95-97% will be re-used in one form or another.  We provide our service at no-cost to our partners and will donate 20% of the gross proceeds of the sale of the clothing to the charity of our partner’s choice. H & M should know, no one has to lose!

To join the Wearable Collections clothing recycling program please e-mail us at info@wearablecollections.com