The 2019 Shanghai Fashion Week has kicked off. At this year’s fashion event, people’s attention was once again attracted by a recycling project “Reclothing Bank”. Zhang Na, designer and founder of the project said, “People always say that new fabrics can make fashionable new clothes. In fact, old fabrics can also be redesigned to make new stylish and environmentally friendly pieces, telling different stories of their owners.”

“Reclothing Bank” is a remaking brand established by Zhang Na in 2011.“Reclothing” means the remake and redesign of second hand cloth, while “bank” means a platform to store, circulate and exchange old donated materials. By working with NGOs, it collects old fashion materials abandoned or donated by people and recycles stock clothes from garment shops. The bank also recycles waste plastic bottles into recycled polyester fabric (RPET). “Plastic bottles can be turned into treasure. RPET fabric made from fibers in plastic bottles can reduce water use by 94%, save energy by 45%, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 42% compared to conventional materials,” said Zhang.

According to an earlier survey by the China Association of Circular Economy, Chinese people throw away 26 million tons of clothes every year. In Shanghai alone, people abandon hundreds of tons of clothes every day. However, as Zhang noted, the reutilization rate of old clothes is less than 0.1%. Her modest yet difficult goal is to elevate the rate to 1%.

While protecting the environment, “Reclothing Bank” is also creating jobs for migrant women workers stuck in low-paid jobs. Thanks to Zhang’s project, females from rural areas learn sewing techniques to make new clothes. They can earn up to 300 yuan per day, which often supplements their husband’s earnings in construction and other migrant worker trades.