Innovation That Matters

T-shirts saved with handstitched lettering & sold to new owners

Fashion & Beauty

Last year, we wrote about Green Thing’s Glove Love, which gathers up stray gloves, matches them with other lost-and-found singles and sells the pairs to new owners. This week, Green Thing launched SAVED, a product line that breathes new life into back-of-the-closet t-shirts. SAVED takes worn and forgotten t-shirts, washes them and adds the word ‘saved’ in handstitched lettering. Each shirt’s tag shows the name of the person who donated it and why it had to be saved (from bad taste, from weight gain, from neglect), as well as the name of the person who did the washing and sewing. The newly desirable shirt is then sold for GBP 20. Proceeds go to Green Thing, a not-for-profit organisation that aims to inspire people to lead greener lives. Anyone with t-shirts they no longer wear — which, let’s be honest, is everyone — can send them over to Green Thing to be saved. Celebrating the new product’s launch, shirts for sale include several from the closets of Imogen Heap, Zandra Rhodes and other British celebrities. Even better, customers receive their shirts in reusable packaging that comes with a free return label, letting them continue the upcycling cycle by sending in a t-shirt of their own. SAVED is part of what Green Thing calls All-Consuming, defined as ‘the art of wasting nothing and using up everything.’ In addition to those environmental benefits, the added appeal for consumers is the background story — one worth repeating. (Related: Luxe upcycling: from cashmere sweaters to (very) soft toysWaste to accessories, with a charitable twistFestival jackets and bags, made from abandoned tentsCharity shop invites designers to upcycle donated clothingLeather jackets remade into designer bagsMore upcycling: sweaters into scarves.)

Website: www.dothegreenthing.com/saved

Contact: www.dothegreenthing.com/contact