Recycling ready-made clothes with a modern concept to achieve sustainability

Sustainability has captured global and Egyptian attention as it shapes Egypt's Vision 2030 in a better and more advanced way. Ready-made clothing is a basic need for every person, and people often have a stockpile of it, which they may discard due to boredom, a change in size, or a defect that has appeared due to use. The textile and ready-made garment industry is the second largest environmentally polluting industry, due to its use of pesticides and consumption of energy and water resources. Therefore, this research aimed to study the sustainability of clothing reuse through several techniques, including embroidery, freehand drawing, and recycling, in line with the country's approach to sustainable development and its ongoing impact on environmental conservation. The research concept was applied to three categories:

The first category: First-year students majoring in ready-to-wear clothing at the College of Applied Arts, with the goal of preparing our students to participate in the Productive Student Initiative.

The second category: Women breadwinners, through one-day workshops designed to help them find a job opportunity that empowers them economically and suits their social circumstances.

The third category: Children, as they represent the future, and to instill sustainability in their culture to change societal behavior in clothing purchases, usage, and recycling.

The descriptive-analytical and applied approaches were used, and research tools included a questionnaire to gather opinions of specialists and consumers regarding the aesthetic and functional aspects of clothing and green clothing accessories. Arithmetic averages were used, and the questionnaires were statistically analyzed to determine the differences between the averages in favor of any model. The results demonstrated agreement among the judges and consumers on the products made from used clothing, their achievement of aesthetic, functional, and innovative aspects, their adherence to fashion, their achievement of sustainability, their dissemination of a culture of sustainability, and their achievement of economic income.