Clothing waste a growing problem because most millennials lack basic clothing care skills

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Due to budget cuts and other concerns, some school districts have been cutting back on home economics classes and the loss of these classes could be causing a significant drop-off in clothing maintenance skills among millennials.

According to a new study published in the , a University of Missouri researcher has found baby boomers possess significantly more basic sewing and button repair skills than young adults between the ages of 18 and 33 years old, a generation commonly referred to as millennials.

Study author Pamela Norum, a professor in the Department of Textile and Apparel Management at MU, said her findings are somewhat concerning - considering the quantity of clothing waste that is produced in the US annually.

"In 2012, Americans created more than 14.3 million tons of textile waste," Norum said. "Much of this waste is due to clothes being discarded due to minor tears or stains - easily repairable damages if the owners have the skills and knowledge to fix them."

"If we, as a nation, want to move toward more sustainable practices in all aspects, we need to evaluate not only how we take care of our clothes, but how we educate younger generations to do so as well," she added.

In the study, Norum interviewed over 500 American baby boomers and millennials on their clothing usage practices. While baby boomers commonly had much more expertise in fixing clothes and laundry than millennials, millennials who said they had taken sewing classes or who had been shown how to sew by a member of the family had more total clothes repair skills than those who did not have training on the subject.

Norum said her findings suggest a need for more education on what once was regarded standard clothing maintenance skills.

"Traditionally, these skills were learned in the home or in secondary school," Norum said. "With the increase of women in the labor force and the decrease in funding for family and consumer sciences programs (FACS), the opportunity to acquire such skills has diminished for young Americans."

"Existing FACS curriculum may want to tie in sewing/mending skills with sustainable consumption as a way of appealing to younger generations while providing the skills they need," she added.

The MU professor also said teaching basic clothing skills should go beyond the classroom, possibly through social media and internet videos, in an effort to educate consumers.

"Using fashion blogs to capture the attention of students prior to introducing sewing skills may be one approach," Norum said. "Students can use websites like Pinterest to gather ideas for in-class repurposing projects and then repurpose items from home using techniques gained in class. This could improve skills that are important for any consumer to possess as well as promote sustainable recycling practices."

On its official website, the Environmental Protection Agency has guidelines listed for those looking to reduce textile waste through recycling and reuse. The EPA recommends keeping old clothes as clean and dry as possible - since dirty or smelly clothes cannot be resold at donation sites. Clean clothes that aren't resold may be recycled as car insulation or seat stuffing. Buttons from these garments are often stripped and recycled as well.

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