What Actually Happens to Your Donated Clothing?

By Dr. Mercola Most Americans have closets overflowing with clothing — some of which may rarely if ever be worn. Inexpensive clothing — so-called "fast fashion" — has become so common, it's not unusual for people to throw away clothes worn only once or twice. In fact, Americans buy 500 percent more clothing today than we did in the 1980s.1 But the low price tag is deceptive. Upon further scrutiny, each item of clothing exacts a significant toll on the environment, and on human health across the globe. Each year, Americans buy an astounding 22 billion items of clothing, and only 2 percent of these items are made in the U.S. Transportation alone, since each item has been shipped numerous times from country to country by the time it ends up in a retail store, creates an enormous amount of air pollution. In an apparent reaction to decades of excess, recent years have seen a revival of "minimalism" and more environmentally-conscious fashion. Bestselling books like Marie Kondo's "The
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