Man Fashion: 5 Simple Ways to Recycle Your Clothes

Clearing your old clothes and sorting your wardrobe to have a fresh new look could be challenging for some if not all of you out there. Today we would like to share 5 simple ways that you can recycle your clothes into more useful forms rather than leave them idle. 

• Sort out any of the garments that not worn for the last 2 years.  Try them on to see if they fit.  Any that is too tight or too loose begin to take out zips, and take off buttons and decorative accessories.


• Find three suitable boxes or bags to place garments and accessories. Separate the two items. These could be boxes or plastic bags (both these items are also recyclable).  The third box/bag can be on hand to keep items that are completely unusable again and must be thrown away.The first box of clothing should be checked for any rips or marks that are irreparable.  Clothes that cannot be re-sewn into any kind of good condition should be cut up to make new items.  These items can be anything from a square shopping bag to a child's shoe bag, small decorative-hanging decorations that can be filled with sweet smelling pot-pourri to keep wardrobes and drawers refreshed.  There are numbers of new and usable things to make.  When you find you need an oven glove to pick up hot pans, a few square pieces of materials sewn together and a loop sewn in a corner for hanging on a cupboard door makes an ideal hot pan holder. You can decorate plant pots with brightly colored materials and ribbons around to brighten your home and garden.


• Items that can be washed clean and used again can be used as gardening clothes or pottering about clothes when dirty jobs are required to be done.  They maybe turned into a different fashion.  Possibly take out the sleeves and turn a shirt into a trendy waistcoat.  The items from the second box/bag can be used to decorate in a different style by sewing on buttons or motifs from previous unworn outfits.  Altering some of the garments into. 

• Other styles may make men look and feel more fashionable than the original style and turning into a waistcoat, scarf or hat does not require the item to fit to any particular size. Items in the third box that cannot be used as some useful purpose make sure are clean and do have their buttons/zips in tact and bag up to be sent to any of the local Charity Shops. There are numerous shops for different causes and are all grateful to accept new stock. This means items of no use to some and do not fit in size are of use to someone else. Obviously they are now going to be recycled and it is serving a good cause and also saving the World's resources by being used again by someone who would have had to use further materials.


• Old clothes that are still wearable can be taken to help the homeless and there are many homeless centers around the country pleased to accept them. The telephone numbers for these centers can be found in the local telephone directory.  If a directory is not to hand the local library may be able to supply this information.  The Salvation Army has always been of help to the needy and is still in action today.

Lastly, unwanted clothes could be used in schools for drama groups etc., and could also go to local Church jumble sales.  Proceeds from these gifts help other causes and you can be certain your recycling is certainly being worthwhile.

Mens Fashion: Revamp Your Wardrobe for Coming Summer

Men’s fashion is not as prone to change as women’s, so basically you may have everything you need to look the part for the summer 2011 season. Suits are still inclined to the classic cuts and the tailored look is back, with jackets accentuating the shoulders, and the waist is highlighted, as male models on catwalks chose to button the one button closest to the waist, whether or not it looked stretched and ruched the fabric as they walked.

Trousers are slim cut and worn without socks but with loafers or deck shoes. For those who still like socks, then there are gladiator sandals with built-in socks. The mens fashion trend is for shorts with jackets rather than full-length trousers, to beat the heat, and these are in the same suit material as jackets, and come to just above the knee. Socks are out this year it would seem.

Although trousers are slim cut, mens fashion jeans are definitely flared this season, so you may want to revamp your wardrobe with the latest jeans rather than wearing the skinny ones that were “in” until so recently.



Jackets are single breasted with shawl or pointed lapels and with either double or single buttons. White of course is in for those summer balls that are starting now. Bikers’ jackets are also de rigueur this season and can be in traditional leather or lighter fabric and with or without sleeves. These match the “wild boy” hairstyles that seem to be in fashion once again.

As for shirts, you can get away with the button down collar and rolled up sleeves, but this summer shirts have prints and colors are inspired by the earthy tones of nature, so they are dark green, burgundy, terracotta and clay shades. Buy a light sleeveless knitwear jumper which can be worn with or without a shirt, and forget the tank tops that only come to your waist. The T-shirt look this summer is sleeveless and long and in neutral shades of grey, off-white and white.



Share your thoughts with us on your dream wardrobe fashion items for this summer.

Man Fashion: Detox Your Wardrobe

While I was clearing some of the old stuffs in my wardrobe few week ago, I realized that there were tons of clothes that I'm no longer wearing. Do you think the same?


So if a sense of wellness can be achieved through detoxifying my body, the same surely can be said of my wardrobe. So I finally got some time today to "detoxifying". Like a physical detox (for those who experienced), I have to plan ahead, ie. set aside half a day for de-cluttering and ensure no distractions too. Do remember to put some of your favorite music on.

To be frank with you, this was not really a pleasant exercise. Like what I called this as detoxing the wardrobe, I finally treated this as serious as like detoxing my body. Be brutal and decisive.

So let me shared these Top 5 questions that I asked myself:-

1. Have I worn this garment in the past 1 year?
   
2. Is this still in Fashion? If you still have the deconstructed 90s dress, or even further back, then the answer to this is NO, dispose it.
3. Does it still Fit? Like what I shared with you the other day on my previous post, when you feel you cannot fit into that pair of khakis pant you bought last summer, then the answer is dispose it.
4. Do you have any sentimental feelings toward this pair of garment? Consider if you have any sentimental attachment toward any clothes especially the first dress that you bought with your first pay check. When you can say No, then dispose it.
5. Did it cost over $500? If this is really expensive, you might want to consider retain it. However, if you can decisive and say No to this, dispose it.

Segregate all my clothes into 3 main categories, The YES, NO and MAYBE group. Simple answer for both Yes and No group. The challenging No group of clothes took me most of the time. As I said earlier, you must be decisive and brutal.

Why not start your detoxifying your wardrobe to welcome the new Summer this year?