Yes—it does!

Throwing textiles in the trash is the least preferred option. But even among collection points, not all systems are equal. In some cases, garments handed in at municipal or charity bins may be picked over and sold in bulk without proper sorting, ending up in places where there’s little oversight and no real use for them. That’s how textiles can end up polluting environments they were never meant to reach.

At Looper, we do things differently. We follow all applicable compliances and regulations, and we sort each item—piece by piece—into more than 300 categories to match it with the most suitable next use.

We’re part of a small group of sorters working to improve both the technology and practices behind textile collection and sorting. When you use a collection system, we’re part of, your cloths are given a real chance to be reused or recycled responsibly.

In 2024, 65% of textiles collected were reused in their current state, and 25% were sent as feedstock to companies engaged in recycling. We work with trusted partners in both areas to ensure items have the best chance of reaching their next most economically and environmentally viable phase.

Customers drop off garments at participating stores, where they’re gathered and transported to consolidation centres. From there, Looper moves the collected textiles to specialized sorting facilities.

At our facilities, each item is evaluated individually—by condition, style, and material—and sorted according to the EU Waste Hierarchy, which prioritizes reuse before recycling.

Our process combines skilled manual sorting with advanced technology. We’ve introduced a pilot line using near-infrared (NIR) and optical sensors to identify material composition and prepare feedstock for emerging textile-to-textile recycling systems.

We sort piece by piece into over 300 final categories to give every garment the best chance of reaching a meaningful next life—whether it’s worn again or transformed into something new.

Many people simply don’t know the environmental impact of throwing away clothing—or the value that still exists in garments they no longer wear. Today, more than 60% of unwanted garments in the EU and over 85% in the US end up in the trash. That’s a lost opportunity for reuse and recycling—and a direct route to landfill or incineration.

Another challenge lies in what happens after collection. Not all sorters operate with the same level of transparency or responsibility. In many cases, garments are skimmed for high-value pieces, and the rest is exported in bulk with little or no sorting.

This kind of “grey area” sorting can send winter coats to tropical markets or garments with no resale value to places without proper waste infrastructure. Poorly sorted textiles like these can end up as waste—rather than being reused or recycled as intended.

Yes—local reuse and recycling is ideal. In a truly circular system, discarded garments would be collected, sorted, reused, or recycled close to where they were first worn. But the reality is that such a system doesn’t yet exist at scale.

Many regions, including parts of Europe, generate far more unwanted clothing than there is demand for second-hand items. At the same time, infrastructure for high-volume sorting and textile-to-textile recycling remains limited—and is often concentrated in only a few places.

Our role is to bridge these gaps responsibly. We sort textiles with care and precision, and we only export reuse items where there is real, confirmed demand. Our business partners around the world place targeted orders—by type and quality—so the garments we send have a much higher chance of being worn again.

We’re also working to help change the system. We track where textiles go on an aggregated basis, assess end states through deep dives, and continue to push for more regionalized supply chains and closed-loop systems in the future. Until reuse and recycling are truly local everywhere, we focus on making sure each textile has the best chance at a next life—responsibly.