Waste not want not: putting unwanted clothing into good use / Nazima Versay Kudus

Chu (2019) reported that Malaysians discarded 195,300 tonnes of fabric waste in 2018; this is equivalent to the weight of 19 Eiffel Towers put together. In 2020, Malaysians generated up to 2,000 tonnes of textile trash and other wearable items every day (Kloth Cares, 2020). Textile waste makes up 4% of Malaysia's municipal solid waste, making it the second greatest polluter after oil and gas (Hassandarvish, 2019). These statistics are alarming considering the effects of fabric pollution and the overflowing of landfills across the country. Instead of simply binning unwanted garments, there are many alternatives that can be opted for a more sustainable environment; you can sell, donate, swap, rent, recycle or upcycle them. Selling A money-making method is to sell clothing to offline stores like Refash at Sungei Wang Plaza. Refash offers higher payouts for clothes when they have no signs of wear and defects and are in trend. Payout value is determined by all of the following factors: brand, trend, condition, material, popularity, and kind of clothes. At Refash, items are categorised into three tiers. Tier A comprises items manufactured within a year by designer/local brands such as TinselRack, The Editor's Market, mds, Love Bonito, Runway Bandits, fayth and TheClosetLover. Tier B are items from mall brands, for instance, Forever 21, H&M, Pull & Bear, Zalora, Zara, TopShop and Cotton-On, manufactured within 1-5 years. Items categorised in Tier C consist of those without brand, low in popularity but still in good condition, manufactured from 1-10 years (Clean Out Your Closet With Refash, n.d.).