"As the seasons change and tanks and tees need to be swapped for cardigans and coats, it’s an obvious time to do a closet clean-out. A sweater you don’t wear anymore or pair of jeans that just doesn’t quite fit right shouldn’t be taking up your precious closet space, but before you haul your pre-loved items to your designated donation destinations, you might be able to swap your unwanted clothes for a discount on pieces you do want. A great resource that often go overlooked during a closet clean-out are clothing recycling initiatives from brands you know and love (and are probably already shopping at).
Brands like Madewell, H&M, GAP, Patagonia, and more have programs in place that allow you to bring in unwanted clothing, and in turn, they’ll give you an incentive as a store credit or a coupon. Most importantly, they sort through them and send them off to be recycled into something new, or clean them up and resell them as a one-of-a-kind item in-store or online.
Recycling your clothing is the perfect way to ensure your clothes are going somewhere where they’ll be used again. Below, we’ve listed 10 brands that’ll reward you after recycling your clothing with them.
1. Madewell
Madewell’s cult-favorite jeans are a major staple among our editors, so them having a jean recycling initiative is music to our ears. If you bring in any pair of jeans from any brand to your nearest Madewell location, they’ll give you $20 credit towards a new pair of Madewell jeans. They’ve collaborated with Cotton’s Blue Jeans Go Green™ program to turn your old jeans into housing insulation for in-need communities. If this doesn’t convince you to get a pair of Madewell jeans, we don’t know what will.
2. Levi’s
If you’ve got old Levi’s jeans, denim shorts, or trucker jackets laying around collecting dust, you’re in luck. Levi’s allows you to book an appointment with their participating stores to process and accept trade-ins. Based on the value of your trade-in, you’ll receive a gift card to shop online or in-store. Their trade-in values start at $5 for items made in the past 10 years, and can go all the way up to $30 for older or vintage denim.
3. H&M
We’ve all been at the H&M register and noticed the large bin right next to it promoting donations. If you bring in a bag of unwanted clothes from any brand (and in any condition), H&M will then reuse or recycle the item based on its condition. In turn, you get a coupon to use toward your next purchase. A win-win if you ask me.
4. Gap
Gap has partnered with ThredUP—another prime brand used to recycle clothing—to get customers to send in gently used clothing from any brand that no longer serves them purpose. Based on the quality and brand of the item, you’ll receive your payout in Gap credit sent in the form of an e-gift card.
5. Girlfriend Collective
Girlfriend Collective is the sustainable activewear brand of our dreams, so of course they’ve got a recycling initiative in tow to give their products new life when you’re not getting wear out of them anymore. With their ReGirlfriend program, you can send in a Girlfriend Collective item you don’t wear anymore and get a $15 credit. (But remember that if you’d like to recycle multiple items, you have to send each item in separately). Just like how it says on their site, “Recycle. Reuse. ReGirlfriend.”
6. ThredUP
If someone told you that ThredUP is “kind of like thrifiting, but online,” they’re about right. Essentially, ThredUP does all the consignment work for you once you send them your unwanted clothing items. Once your item sells on their site, you can cash out or get shopping credit toward pieces you’re interested in on their site. ThredUP specializes in mid-priced brands such as Banana Republic, Lululemon, and Free People.
7. & Other Stories
Similar to H&M’s recycling policy (they are sister stores after all,) & Other Stories’ recycling clothes initiative gives you a 10% off coupon after bringing in a bag of unwanted clothing from any brand. After you recycle clothing in-store, & Other Stories then sorts through the clothes and deems them fit for resale, recycle, or reuse.
8. The North Face
The North Face Renewed is The North Face’s sustainable initiative to ensure that their gear lasts a lifetime (or more). The cult-favorite brand is staunchly committed to sustainability and aims to keep their gear out of landfills. With this initiative, they encourage customers to bring in old The North Face products into their stores for $10 off their next purchase. After the swap, the brand refurbishes the turned-in product to be resold again and well-loved once more.
9. Patagonia
Patagonia’s clothing recycling initiative is so impassioned, they created a whole second brand and website called Worn Wear to promote the turning-in and reselling of used Patagonia gear. Send in or bring your Patagonia items to a store and receive credit that’s good to use in-store or online for Patagonia or Worn Wear items. You can receive credit anywhere from $10 to $100 for eligible products. Who knows, maybe someone else will find great use of that fleece you turned in after they stumbled upon it on Worn Wear.
10. Eileen Fisher
One of Eileen Fisher’s core values centers around the lifestyle of clothing. The retail brand pays close attention to how a garment is made and discarded, and how that affects the environment and industry surrounding it. Because of these values, they’ve incorporated Eileen Fisher Renew, where you can bring in your old Eileen Fisher clothing pieces and get a $5 credit for each piece–no matter the condition. They then recycle the garment completely or sort and clean great-condition pieces and give them new life to be resold in-stores or online as one-of-a-kind items.
