Tees to Totes – Upcycling Your Old Favourites

Would you look at an old T-shirt and say – “I think I can make this into a tote bag”? Probably not. Two friends (one who lives in Lane Cove) with a passion for the environment have created Tees to Totes.

Tees to Totes upcycles old and used t-shirts and singlets into tote bags, using just a pair of scissors, providing them with another lifespan. Tees to Totes bags are lightweight and strong and a great substitute for plastic bags.

This is a great response to our fast fashion and cheap clothing fixation. This trend has resulted in the average consumer buying 
60% more clothes and wearing them fewer times – sometimes not at all, and keeping them for only about half as long as 15 years ago. Our society discards a huge volume of clothes which often end up in incinerators or landfills – sometimes within a year of being made. Did you know that doubling the life of clothing from 1 year to 2 years reduces greenhouse gas emissions over the year by 24%?

Tees to Totes aims to reduce clothing waste and provide an alternative to plastic bags. At present there are between 500 billion and 1 trillion plastic bags used each year around the world. While each plastic bag is only used for an average of about 12 minutes it remains in landfills, oceans and other places for hundreds of years. A plastic bag is a death sentence to marine life. Plastic bags are consumed by hundreds of different species of marine life.

Tees to Totes regularly participates in markets where they give away their tote bags for free and show others how to create bags. Tees to Totes welcomes old and unwanted t-shirts and singlets.

Would you be able to donate clean unwanted t-shirts/singlets (not torn or stained)? Any Adult size is fine. Please contact [email protected] to arrange pickup.  You can follow them on Facebook here.

Want to have a go at making a t-shirt tote bag?  Then come along to their workshop in Lane Cove on 14 July 2018  – booking details here.

Do you have a local issue you would like help with? ITC is here to help just email us at [email protected]

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