LOCAL RESOURCES for SLOW FASHION
Upcycling, Swapping, Mending Opportunities:
Cosecha DIY night, 1st Wednesday of every month: https://cosechatextiles.com/shop
Pre-Loved Community Markets: Mercedes Brown’s program, small scale flea market style events in the RFV.
Utilizing your local seamstresses for upcycling/mending opportunities. Sarah and her team at Mountainside Sewing has upcycled/re-styled old wedding dresses to fit for modern day weddings. They did one for me and 2 of my friends! https://www.mountainsidesewing.com
Consignment & Thrift:
For Outdoor Gear and Clothing - Ragged Mountain (Carbondale), Replay Sports (Aspen), and the Gear Library (Carbondale) are great places to consign, donate, buy or borrow gear and clothing for your adventure needs!
The Near New thrift store at the Rebecca Lodge. They collect specific items to reuse/repurpose. Ex. Cotton T shirts for rags, materials for teachers, materials/costumes for the theater, some women upcycling old cashmere or other specific fabrics, always something on their radar!
Other Thrift Stores: Lulu’s in Carbondale, Cattle Creek Thrift, Defiance Thrift in GWS, Aspen Thrift Store, and The Motherload Merchantile that was started after locals got into the habit of dropping off goods outside of the landfill. www.themotherlodemercantile.com/
Other Consignment Stores: Rock It Boutique Emporium in Carbondale, Susie’s in Willits, Heirloom’s in Basalt.
Recycling:
Pitkin County and the Recycling Center at 102 13th St in Glenwood Springs will take textiles for free. We do not know where these clothes go in the program but I know they take the thrift stores unwanted clothes and they are diverted into a program who takes the clothing/textiles. https://pitkincounty.com/488/Landfill or https://cogs.us/176/Recycle-Center.
Trashie, I recently discovered this company, would be super cool to hear more from them but they are very transparent - https://www.trashie.io/how-we-recycle-textiles-tbb
Suay, textile recycling program - https://suayla.com/pages/suay-it-forward
LOCAL TO GLOBAL WASTE
Remember that the trash collected in Carbondale is taken to the Pitkin County Landfill, and the City of Aspen has a great resource for waste, compost, recycling, large items, and hazardous materials. www.aspen.gov/348/Recycling
The EverGreen Zero Waste website as it outlines the process of disposal www.evergreenzerowaste.com/zero-waste-guide/
Learn more about exported textiles in the Earthy Route article “Four Places our Clothes End Up when they are Discarded” www.EarthyRoute.com
Learn more about Colorado MRFs (Material Recovery Facilities) in Denver and Boulder. https://resource-recycling.com/recycling/2018/01/02/mrf-month-boulder-county-recycling-center/
NATIONAL AND GLOBAL RESOURCES
Kapi’s suggestions for front range stores and an innovative non-profit:
ReCreative, Denver; creative reuse store
Art Parts, Boulder, creative reuse store
Alabama Chanin, slow fashion non-profit with an interesting symposium called Project Threadways starting in 2025.
Some of Sarah’s favorites: a book, a podcast, and national material sources.
Conscious Closet: The Revolutionary Guide to Looking Good While Doing Good by Elizabeth Cline
99 Percent Invisible Podcast: Pockets Articles of Interest www.99percentinvisible.org/episode/pockets-articles-of-interest-3/
National Resources for Materials: Fab Scrap www.shopfabscrap.org and
Material for the Arts www.materialsforthearts.org
Inspiring Online Up-Cycling: Check ‘em out!
Suay monthly dye baths - https://suayla.com/pages/community-dye-bath
Sibia shares awesome easy projects to repurpose trash/items around the house - https://www.instagram.com/sibster?igsh=cjdpOGtwbmdpdmNz