From Trendy to Trash—and Back Again

Jun 28, 2021 10:00 AM ET

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Plastic is literally woven into the fabric of our lives; when we discard our clothes, we’re often piling on to the mounting plastic-waste problem. Host Audrey Choi talks to textile designers, manufacturers and recyclers who are trying to change the lifecycle of these essential products.

It's not just the containers our food and drinks come in, or the way our we package our goods for delivery. Even the clothes we wear are contributing to the plastic-waste problem. And while, some may find it easy enough to retire last season’s styles from their closets, so many components of our garments, or their textile inputs, are plastic that the clothes themselves have few good end-of-life options.

Host Audrey Choi talks with Molly Hemstreet of The Industrial Commons, Carmen Gama of Eileen Fisher, and Annie Gulingsrud of the EON Group about how we can change the lifecycle of our clothing products—and help reduce the plastic waste impact of an entire industry.