Fashion Week in New York City might have ended, but the first-ever ReFashion Week NYC is just getting started.
The weeklong slate of events through March 1 is designed to promote reuse of fashion to help to reduce the 200,000 tons of clothing, shoes and accessories from the city that end up in landfills every year.
There will be clothing swaps, a pop-up market and a ReFashion show complete with stylists using items culled from thrift shops. The effort is sponsored by donateNYC, a program from the city Sanitation Department that works with nonprofits and businesses to promote the reuse of goods.
“The amount of textile waste that New Yorkers send to landfills every year is equivalent to the entire height of the Empire State Building — and that needs to change,” said acting Sanitation Commissioner Steven Costas in a statement. “The vast majority of these items can be recycled, donated, or mended and repaired to extend their life-cycle.”
A full list of events is available at refashionweek.com.
