Canadians are used to recycling bottles, cans and paper, but can they grow accustomed to recycling their clothes? Levi’s hopes so.
The iconic denim brand has expanded its clothing recycling program to all Levi’s stores and outlets in Canada. Consumers can drop off any brand of clothing or shoes in collection boxes at the stores.
The initiative, in partnership with I:Collect (I:CO), launched as a pilot project in three stores in San Francisco in 2014, and was expanded to all American Levi’s stores last year. The program is also available in the U.K. and Japan.
I:CO is a solutions provider for reusing and recycling apparel and footwear. Wearable items are resold, while other pieces are reused as products such as cleaning cloths, recycled into fibers for insulation and paddings, or upcycled into new products.
Michael Kobori, vice-president of sustainability at Levi Strauss & Co., told Marketing the program demonstrated to consumers that Levi’s was “walking the walk and moving towards a closed loop/circular economy.”
In the apparel industry, that means designing a product from “cradle-to-cradle” rather than “cradle-to-grave.” For example, in 2014, LS&Co. created Wellthread, a recyclable cotton product that can easily be made into new garments.
Kobori said the company was thinking about sustainability across all facets of its business and how to shift consumer behaviour to make recycling clothing the norm.
“Asking people to do things that are new and that they normally do not do is a challenge,” he said. “We have approached this by creating an incentive program offering 20% off consumers’ next single-item purchase every time they bring in clothing or footwear to be recycled… [The promotion] has been our most successful redemption program to date.”
To raise awareness of the program in Canada, Levi’s has created in-store signage and is promoting it via social media. Store associates are also helping to spread the word.
