Using cast-off clothing as raw material, a TikTok creator is drawing attention to where unwanted garments can end up. Their large-scale textile pieces challenge the idea that clothes stop mattering once people throw them out.
Here's what to know
Nigerian artist Solomon Chidinma (@jachi_gallerie) posted a TikTok video describing several possible outcomes for unwanted clothing after disposal. Some garments wind up in dumps, some are incinerated, and some spread into the surrounding environment.
@jachi_gallerie What happens to the clothes nobody wants? They don't simply disappear. Many end up in landfills, burned, or scattered across our environment. But I see something else in them. I collect discarded textiles and transform them into large-scale artworks exploring emotion, identity and human experience. I'm redefining what textile waste can become through art, because what we throw away can still have a story to tell.
♬ original sound - jachi_gallerie
The creator's answer is to collect those discarded textiles and turn them into large-scale artworks instead of treating them as worthless. According to the caption, the work explores "emotion, identity and human experience."
In the caption, Chidinma presented the project as a way to change how people think about trash, writing: "I'm redefining what textile waste can become through art, because what we throw away can still have a story to tell."
By using discarded fabric as a medium, the artwork presents textile waste as something tangible, lasting, and tied to human choices rather than a problem hidden out of sight.
What can be done?
For individuals, one of the clearest steps to decreasing textile waste is to buy fewer clothes and choose pieces designed to last longer. Repairing damaged items, swapping with friends, thrifting, and repurposing worn fabric at home can also help keep textiles in use longer before they're discarded.
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It also helps to be thoughtful about where unwanted clothing ends up. Donation centers, local textile recovery programs, and community reuse groups may offer better options than throwing everything in the garbage, though access varies depending on location.
Where can I learn more?
These stories look at what happens to discarded materials, especially clothing, and how people are trying to keep more of it out of dumps. They cover trash turned into art, the fallout from donated garments, and new efforts to recycle textiles.
• Online, a resourceful artist turned discarded materials into art by treating waste as supply.
• Scientists have developed a way to recycle blends that often resist easy processing.
• At one thrift store, overflow showed how all these clothes are going to landfills.
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