I love dressing up for game day: shopping at local boutiques, getting ready with my best friends, taking photos together and, of course, wearing my cowgirl boots. It’s part of the Longhorn culture that we look forward to. Since Texas joined the SEC, plenty of students have caught the same bug, and the stands at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium look better for it.
But recently, I spent an afternoon with students who run Trash to Treasure, one of UT’s oldest sustainability organizations that focuses on circulating campus clothing, and left thinking about where all those new, one-time outfits go after the fourth quarter.
Trash to Treasure collects students’ clothes from residence halls across the Forty Acres and sells them back to students for $1 apiece. Gaby Bautista, Trash to Treasure co-lead and textiles and apparel junior, said about a quarter of what shows up at move-out is new or gently worn — with some pieces still having tags attached. According to Romi Bobovnikov, Trash to Treasure co-lead and sustainable studies junior, their most recent donation drive brought in more than 2,235 lbs of clothing and sold 1,127 items.
A fraction of the racks are what you wear for one occasion: sorority shirts, spirit organization merch and free T-shirts from campus events. Another significant portion comes from online storefronts, like Shein and Amazon.
Those articles of clothing are harder to recycle. Most clothes today are constructed of synthetics — polyester, viscose, elastane — which come from petroleum and aren’t biodegradable. Polyester itself can be recycled, and recycled polyester is already on shelves in stores. The bigger obstacle is fiber blending, where garments have mixed fibers, like 70% polyester and 30% cotton. Such can’t be recycled, as fiber circularity calls for single pure fibers.
“It’s a greater problem for recycling,” said Jonathan Chen, textiles and apparel professor. “This is a big issue, I believe needs … industrial collaboration.”
Even pure cotton isn’t an easy case. Chen’s lab is developing a process to turn old cotton into new rayon fibers, ensuring worn garments can live again as new fabrics. However, he said getting that kind of recycling to work at a larger, industry scale will take more time and resources.
Sustainability, recyclability and circularity are three separate goals and no single article of clothing can check off each box. In my eyes, the most sustainable outfit is the one that’s already hanging in our closets, not the new jacket on the rack.
I’m not asking students to never dress up again. However, everyone should think before they make another purchase solely for game days. Fast fashion feels cheap at checkout, but constantly spending $30 here and $50 there adds up over a season.
“Literally imagine your cash dollar bills burning in front of you,” Bobovnikov said. “It’s gone.”
The fix for overconsumption is more fun than it sounds. A clothing swap can give you the same dopamine hit as shopping at the Domain or in downtown Austin because you still walk away with something that’s new to you and your closet.
Until then, raid your roommate’s closet. Wear the dress again. Thrift the one piece you’re missing instead of buying a whole matching set costing you your paycheck. Honestly, an outfit you pieced together says more about your taste than one that arrived in a single package.
Rodriguez is a psychology and philosophy junior from Houston, Texas.
