The popular retail chain, thanks to a project conducted in cooperation with Deko Eko, has shown that landfills are not the only solution to the problem of outdated workwear clothing. Thanks to upcycling, out-of-date clothing can turn into completely new items and thus not only remain in circulation, but also give new value to its users - as a result of our project, outdated shirts "returned" to employees in the form of shopping bags.

The clothing industry is responsible for as much as 10% of carbon dioxide emissions on a global scale, and is also the second largest consumer of water in the world. Lagging collections of out-of-date clothing are a huge problem.

While workwear is a relatively small part of the fashion industry, the problem of outdated collections needs to be resolved here, as in the case of mass production for the individual customer.

Our project showed that outdated clothing collections do not have to end up in landfills, but can successfully return to circulation, turning into new and durable items. Outdated work shirts turned into shopping bags that went to employees of German retail chain.

As a result of the project, outdated work shirts were sewn onto shopping bags, which were to be used by employees while shopping. In cooperation with our upcycling partner we prepared 4,380 such bags.

The bags were made by a social enterprise employing people with disabilities. This is another positive impact of our cooperation with German retailer, in addition to the environmental dimension.