It’s time to make the fashion industry more eco-friendly. Here’s how.

Now that gift-giving season is over, gift-returning season is in full swing. And while returning an itchy sweater or ill-fitting shoes might feel like the sustainable thing to do, returns create 5 billion pounds of waste each year — and that’s not counting all the unreturned, used items that end up in landfills annually. 

Thankfully, trashing your old clothes may soon be a thing of the past in California, which is leading the country not only in high fashion, but also in circular fashion. In September, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the Responsible Textile Recovery Act, putting the pressure on apparel makers to figure out how to effectively reuse the clothes they produce. It’s an important first step toward sustainable fashion, but we encourage California leaders and consumers to imagine truly zero-waste fashion, starting not at the end of a garment’s life, but at the very beginning. 

Californians typically toss more than 1 million metric tons of textiles each year — that’s more pounds of clothing than the weight of the Golden Gate Bridge, plus the 55,000 cars that cross it each day. While a relatively small portion of what goes to the landfill, textiles cost California taxpayers more than $70 million just to throw away. That total doesn’t begin to quantify the environmental costs of all that waste. The fashion industry emits up to 10% of global carbon emissions and is contributing to overflowing landfills worldwide. As with so many environmental externalities, the most vulnerable communities carry the heaviest burden — the 45,000 Los Angeles residents, mostly women of color, working in textile factories, along with the many more living near chemical-releasing factories, heavy transportation routes or landfills.  

The Responsible Textile Recovery Act will redress much of the landfill problem by requiring producers of clothing — whether or not they’re based in the state, as long as they sell or distribute in California — to shoulder the burden of how to recycle old textiles. Clothing makers will have to collect, transport, repair, sort, recycle and otherwise manage the end-of-life of their products beginning in 2030. The law is an example of what’s known as extended producer responsibility, which shifts from taxpayers to corporations the burden of paying for the pollution that their products create. It’s the first of its kind in the country, and only the second in the world, after France. 

But recycling textiles is just one piece of the puzzle. While we recycle 75% of all aluminum cans, and even 29% of plastic bottles, thanks to having the right infrastructure and incentives in place, right now only 1% of recycled clothes are turned back into new garments. Most clothes made of recycled materials use post-consumer plastic bottles or fabric scraps — an important element of textile recycling, but not a sufficient answer to pollution from fashion. 

Even with the low recycling rates, consumers globally are showing a growing appetite for sustainable options in fashion, prioritizing built-to-last items or exploring circular practices like rental, resale and repair. 

Re-commerce platforms, such as Levi’s SecondHand or Patagonia’s Worn Wear, exemplify this approach by enabling consumers to buy, sell and share pre-loved items, creating a shared economy that maximizes the utility and value of each product. This reduces demand for virgin fibers and delays the need for recycling. Combining that effort with investing in new, petroleum-free materials like sustainable viscose and plant-based leather, could  significantly reduce reliance on virgin fibers.

An integral part of material circularity, beyond just the ingredients that go into a product, is the environmental impact of production from start to finish. Circular products need to phase out the use of hazardous chemicals in favor of safer alternatives, reduce water usage and recycle as much water as possible, and achieve zero greenhouse gas emissions, or as close to zero as technology allows. 

This may sound like a tall order, but many brands, businesses and even philanthropies are already working toward this future through the Fashion Climate Fund, created by the Apparel Impact Institute and supported by the Schmidt Family Foundation. The fund aims to subsidize producer costs — which can be significant, and too risky for most traditional investors to support — so they can begin the process of cleaning up the supply chain.  

Legislation like California’s Responsible Textile Recovery Act is a vital step toward systemic change. By aligning public policy with corporate and philanthropic efforts, as well as consumer awareness, we can create a framework for sustainable transformation across the fashion industry. Let’s start thinking beyond the recycling bin, and make fashion sustainable from the start. 

Wendy Schmidt is president and co-founder of the Schmidt Family Foundation and lives in Santa Barbara. Lewis Perkins is president and CEO of the Apparel Impact Institute and lives in Oakland.