Five years ago, we launched our textile recycling program to create an alternative to the landfill while also building the feedstock needed for our remade production.

Since 2017, with the support of individual community members, neighborhood organizations, local nonprofits, and corporate partners, SUAY has received, cleaned, sorted, graded, stored, cut, sewn, dyed, and repaired over 5 million pounds of textiles, diverting them from landfill and giving them a new life.

Today, with an extraordinary volume of textiles already in our system, SUAY is pausing new textile recycling intake from individuals so our team can focus on responsibly processing and repurposing the materials we currently have.

Textile waste is a massive global problem. SUAY is one working model of what textile reuse and circular production can look like at a local scale, and we remain committed to continuing to build systems that make this work possible.

This pause allows our team to focus on transforming the materials already in our care into new goods through our remade production, powered by skilled garment workers in the heart of downtown Los Angeles.

For years, SUAY has taken on the work of processing and repurposing fashion’s waste largely with its own resources, diverting massive amounts of textiles from Los Angeles County landfills. But the truth is: no single organization can solve the textile waste crisis alone.

As we move into this next chapter, we are seeking broader partnerships, funding, and shared responsibility to sustain and expand this work.

In the meantime, you can support this work by:
• Shopping remade and upcycled goods
• Supporting LA garment workers
• Advocating for systems that make textile reuse possible at scale

We remain deeply committed to textile diversion and circular production, and we look forward to reopening intake once we have processed our current volume and secured the resources needed to responsibly continue the program.

Thank you to everyone who has supported SUAY It Forward and helped make this impact possible.