There’s a hole in my jeans
too big to ignore.
Should I throw them away
and go buy some more?
No, I think I will mend them
with bright purple thread
because of statistics
I recently read:
Three-fifths of all clothes
are thrown in the trash.
A dump truck is filled
every second! That’s rash!
We need to buy less.
We need to mend more.
Use needle and thread,
don’t go to the store.
© Mary Lee Hahn, 2022
True story, those jeans. True story, my decision to mend rather than buy a new pair. I follow several "visible mending" artists on IG and I intend for all of the pairs of jeans that I've owned for more than ten years to last more than ten more. Mending gives me hope.
From the fabulous essay in ALL WE CAN SAVE, "Dear Fossil Fuel Executives," by Cameron Russell:
"Fashion's carbon footprint is big and growing, responsible for 8 to 10 percent of global emissions. We must accept responsibility for growing a culture of rampant consumerism, too. Three-fifths of all clothes end up in a landfill or incinerator within a few years of being produced. By some estimates, textile production is on track to use at least a quarter of the world's carbon budget by 2050." p. 205 (emphasis is mine)
I loved the very visible bright threads you used for your mending. I don't have too many visible holes, but I'd like to find some other way to ...keep, save, other than buying all used clothes (which I mostly do anyway). I like the brightness of it...
ReplyDeleteI have iron-on patches for a favorite raggedy pair. Good for you for mending & with purple! At our condo a year or so ago we had to purchase new mattresses for beds & I helped my son-in-law take them to the Summit County dump. That county is where many of the ski resorts are, lots of regulars live there but also many vacationers. I saw so many huge pallets of clothing tied together in the re-cycling area - horrifying!
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