The 16-tonne mountain of clothes, spread several metres high and wide on the 11th floor of an office tower in Hong Kong’s Quarry Bay district, is a jaw-dropping sight. The floor in Lincoln House is a hive of activity as garments are sorted into boxes labelled according to category, from baby clothes and business shirts to shoes and sportswear. Others are marked “summer” and “winter”, while top-quality pieces end up in resale boxes.
The scale of the pile may be shocking, but the director of Redress’ circular fashion programme, Aurianne Ricquier, says it represents just a fraction of the volume of waste textiles thrown away in Hong Kong every day. “Look at the clothes in this box – some have never been worn,” she says, holding up a top with tags dangling from it. The collection is the result of a clothing drive held in May as part of Get Redressed Month, the city’s largest clothing consumer awareness campaign.
Past “second life” campaigns have been successful: in 2022, Get Redressed Month collected 16.2 tonnes of clothing, with 60 per cent redistributed to Redress’ charity partners and 17 per cent resold at Redress’ pop-up shop. Clothes donated in its most recent drive will either be repurposed, resold, repaired or recycled, says Ricquier.
“Giving away unwanted clothes means they are put back into circulation so they can be reused by others,” she says. “Some will be distributed among Redress’ network of charity partners, or responsibly downcy.
