Annie Thompson and her husband, architect Murray Fuller, co-founded Worn Up in 2020 to tackle the enormous amount of school uniforms and clothing waste in general that ends up in landfills each year.  

Australia faces a serious textile waste problem, with an estimated 200,000 tonnes of unwanted clothing sent to landfills annually. School uniforms alone account for a significant portion of this waste. By repurposing textiles into durable furniture, Worn Up transforms waste into valuable, sustainable products, reshaping how textile waste can be managed. 

At a warehouse northwest of Sydney, discarded uniforms are being sorted by volunteers who are passionate about recycling and giving old uniforms a second life. Worn Up collects these old uniforms, which are then shredded and mixed with other materials to create a new product called FABtec, which is then used to make furniture items like desks and chairs. The aim was to reclaim the value from these uniforms and repurpose them into useful items.   

FABtec is made from synthetic fibers which, while tough to break down in landfills, are perfect for creating long-lasting furniture.   

“If these fibers can last 100 years in a landfill, they can definitely last as a desk or chair,” Annie told SBS News.   

They’ve also partnered with the CSIRO’s Kick Start program, which offers funding and research support for start-ups and small businesses. This collaboration has helped refine FABtec, making it a robust solution for recycling textile waste.Annie hopes that FABtec will find applications beyond Australia.  

“Imagine if every student had a desk made from their old uniforms. That’s the future we’re working towards,” she added.  

Planet Ark’s head of circular economy development, Dr. Nicole Garofano, reminds us that while recycling helps extend the life of materials, reducing overall consumption of non-sustainable materials is equally important. As consumers, we can buy less, choose sustainable brands, repurpose and repair garments, thrift or swap and responsibly manage garments once they are no longer in use. 

Visit the Worn Up website to learn more about their work.

Planet Ark does not take responsibility for the accuracy of the original information and encourages readers to check the references before using this information for their own purposes.