Take Your SWAG to the Next Level
Out of all the clothes in your closet, how many do you actually wear consistently?
It turns out, most of us have more clothes than we realize. According to one study, researchers estimated that Americans wear only 18% of the clothes that they own on a regular basis. The same is true for many other developed countries, and even more forgiving estimates are well under 50%.
Wardrobe (and grocery) disuse by country. Source: Fashion United UK & Wall Street Journal
Why is that important? Up to 8% of global carbon emissions are caused by the textile industry according to the UN Environment Programme. That may not sound like a lot, but it is more than the aviation and shipping industries combined. In fast fashion, things go in and out of style every week, and many items are so low quality that they don’t last. We are constantly bombarded with emails, ads, and promotions to buy more and have the newest items. One of the simplest actions that we can take to individually reduce our carbon footprint around textiles is to buy fewer items and use what we do buy as much as possible.
That was the inspiration for the 2022 Craftsbury Running Camp’s initiative to replace the traditional cotton t-shirt participation gift. How many t-shirts do you have laying around, unused and barely worn in your closet? [10 year collection of Turkey Trot 5k shirts anybody?]. Instead, we wanted our camper gift to be something that runners need, something they would enjoy, and something they would use a lot. We thought socks would fit the bill.
Small changes like this may make a minimal impact on their own, but we can use small changes to fuel a greater movement. To drive home the importance of understanding the true cost of the garments we wear, we introduced a “SWAG Pledge” into the 2022 Summer Running Camps. Upon receiving their socks, we asked each running camper to sign the following pledge:
Swear to Wear AGain and AGain
“I swear to wear these socks again and again and to enjoy them for their full lifespan. I intend to honor and respect the cost of making them: their carbon, labor, material, water and disposal footprint.”
As we face uncertainty and challenges ahead, we need to remember to find positivity in small moments so we added a special message knitted on the toe of each sock: “SMILE.” Runners will see this message first thing in the morning as they put their socks on and at the end of a run as they take their shoes off.
Craftsbury Running Director Susan Dunklee asked her 2022 Olympic biathlon teammates and members of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project for help picking out the message to put on the camp socks. “SMILE” was the overwhelming favorite.
As luck would have it, we have some extra socks from the summer that are available for purchase! The proceeds from their sale will go towards a fund for future sustainability initiatives in our community (stay tuned for more on that in the coming months). We want these socks to go to a good home, where they will be worn, repaired, and worn some more. So, before you buy: Ask yourself, do you (or the gift recipient) need these socks? Will you wear them a lot? We hope you will!
Join the movement! Sign the SWAG pledge yourself and share it! Talk to your friends and family and explain why you want to make your clothing a force for good and how you plan to honor the true cost of your garments.
You can even post a picture with your socks and tag us @craftsburyoutdoorcenter #SWAG #clothes4good
