Kloth Cares, the first textile-recycling movement in Southeast Asia, is a social enterprise that aims to keep fabric out of landfills. Co-founded by Nik Suzila Hassan and Sarah Kedah in 2013, its initial goal was to promote fabric made from recycled plastic bottles.
“In 2018, we shifted our focus to fabric recycling and have since managed to collect over 2.5 million kg in fabric,” Nik, 42, told FMT.
Kloth Cares has between 350 and 400 fabric bins located in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Putrajaya, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan, and Johor. About half of them are “adopted by corporate citizens”, she said, adding that companies can either choose to adopt a bin for their workplaces, or sponsor them in different locations.
People are encouraged to donate old or new fabric-based items, including undergarments, clothing accessories, footwear, household textiles, children’s toys, and even costume jewellery.
“Cleaning the items beforehand using your washing machine is good enough; you don’t need to iron them,” Nik added.
Goods collected from the bins are sent to Life Line Clothing Malaysia, a fabric-recycling factory, and segregated into 400 different categories.
“Those that are of good quality are either exported or given away to charities, while the rest are upcycled or turned into things like industrial wiping cloths and processed engineered fuel, a type of biofuel.”
In 2020, Kloth Cares established “Woman Up”, a programme that helps women from marginalised communities earn a livelihood by making merchandise using donated fabric. They have so far made over 20,000 items for various corporate clients.
And Nik fondly recalls a two-day recycling event in 2018, during which they managed to collect about 18,000kg of fabric.
“People from all walks of life came together to give away their unwanted fabric. Some even sent their contributions through e-hailing services,” she shared.
“It was an eye-opener for us – caring for the environment truly cuts across gender, race, age, and social status.”
On the flipside, she admitted it could be challenging dealing with certain local councils, especially when it came to obtaining permission to set up the bins in particular locations.
“Nevertheless, we’re excited to install more fabric bins and, in the next two months, we’re looking to have at least 30 fabric bins in Johor,” she revealed.
Clothes, clutter and cynics
Nik pointed out that people often find they have “nothing to wear” even though they have a cupboard full of clothes.
“If you have this problem, my suggestion is to declutter. Only keep items you wear, and drop the rest off at our bins or any other fabric-recycling centre,” she said.
“This way, you won’t waste time digging around in your closet, and you won’t keep things that do not reflect you anymore.”
At the end of the day, Nik is determined to do good for the environment despite the naysayers, and hopes the culture of fabric recycling will be adopted into the Malaysian way of life.
“Some people don’t believe in global warming, whereas others say it will take place regardless of what we do, so why bother doing anything?
“The fact is, it takes more than 200 years for textiles to decompose if you throw them into landfills. That’s why you have to extend the life of your fabric,” she said.
“Failing to do so creates more methane, a greenhouse gas that is said to be more potent than carbon dioxide. That’s my key message.”
For more information on Kloth Cares, check out its website, as well as Facebook and Instagram accounts.