What To Do With Old Jeans: 7 Denim Recycling Ideas Turning Blue Jeans Green

While fashionable cuts shift, jeans have stayed in style for over a century, making them a must for any minimalist wardrobe. But what about when they no longer fit or develope massive holes in the knees (or worst, the butt)? What to do with old jeans?

We’ll indi-go into everything you can do with denim fabric, from finding a new wearer for your old pair of jeans to finding the proper channel for denim recycling.

Jeans are timeless and usually made from sturdy fabric, so they’re worth holding onto.

If you’re thinking of parting with an old pair of jeans because of a specific problem—like a tear in the bum—try your hand at home repair first. And fortunately, learning what to do with torn jeans in terms of mending is pretty darn (get it?) easy.

Darning, applying a patch, or embroidering a design over a hole are simple solutions that require nothing more than a needle, thread, and maybe some scrap fabric.

Not really a seamstress? Start by checking with the company that made your pair of jeans in case they offer a repair service. The following brands do:

• Patagonia offers free lifetime repairs for ANY reason as part of their IronClad Guarantee. Mail-in or in-store options are available.
• Levi’s® Tailor Shops can not only repair, but “distress, embroider, re-construct, accessorize (patches and pins please)” through In-store drop-offs only.
• Self Edge uses a genuine 1950s Singer Darning machine to repair jeans in the same way they were pre-1960. In-store drop-offs only.
• Nudie Jeans promises free repairs forever through either by sending you a repair kit, their mobile repair station, their Repair Shops, or one of their global retail partners.

If your jeans didn’t come from a company that offers denim repair, check with local tailors before finally resorting to online clothes repair services for a wide variety of repair and rework options. Either way, fixing the problem is probably cheaper—and definitely more eco-friendly—than buying a new pair.

Maybe you have old jeans that don’t fit or that you just don’t want anymore. Or maybe you’ve just decided you have too many. We all have our favorite, go-to blues–the ones we’ve broken in perfectly and fit just right—while others sit folded in our closet for months at a time.

If they’re still in good shape and from a relatively nice brand, you can recycle blue jeans by finding a new owner for them—especially since jeans are durable but often expensive to buy new.

Check your local consignment options first to avoid the carbon footprint associated with shipping, but if there aren’t options near you, here are some websites to sell old jeans:

• thredUP makes it easy to recycle jeans by doing all the resale work for you. Just mail in and get paid once they sell.
• Depop is the best choice for on-trend or funky fashion.
• Poshmark makes listing and selling super easy with their app.
• eBay will get those old denim jeans in front of a global audience.

Another option for what to do with old jeans that don’t fit but are still in wearable condition—and maybe aren’t from a nice enough brand to resell—is to donate them to a local thrift store or charity clothing drive. If you don’t have a clothing drive new you but would rather see them go to someone in need, companies like Pact offer a charitable-focused means to recycle old clothes.

Either way, wash your wearable jeans before you hand them over. Most thrift stores and charities don’t have the bandwidth to launder items, so passing them off clean ensures they actually have a chance for resale or reuse.

But what about jeans that aren’t in the condition to be reworn, like jeans with holes? Are jeans recyclable in this case?

You betcha. In fact, recycling denim has never been easier thanks to dropboxes like the ones from American Textile Recycling Service.

Plenty of brands also now have jeans recycling programs so you can get your jeans back into the hands of people who know how to use each component of that specific pair and can get the denim fabric recycled most efficiently. Here’s some options for where to recycle jeans with denim drands:

• Frank And Oak: Their stores accept any brand to be recycled through their Good Denim Lab—in exchange for 15% off a new pair.
• Madewell: Madewell accepts “any brand or style”.
• Levi Strauss: Bring jeans from any brand, in any condition, to the bins in Levi’s Dockers stores in the US and Canada.
• American Eagle: Considering just about every mall in America has one, they’ve become one of the best, more accessible options for recycling denim. Real Rewards mebers get $10 in store credit for doing so.
• Ariat: Drop your jeans at Ariat stores, outlets, and participating JAX Outdoor Goods stores in exchange for $10 in credit.

If you don’t have a drop-off point near you, no need to be blue. You can recycle jeans via mail-in recycling services.

This is largely thanks to Cotton Incorporated, a nonprofit founded in the early 70s to support cotton, “the fabric of our lives“. Cotton Incorporated is behind the Blue Jeans Go Green™ denim recycling initiative, which has already transformed over 5,200,000 jeans into building insulation, saving 2,630+ tons of waste.

A lot of the store drop-off options outlined above are powered by Blue Jeans Go Green™. Similarly, some brands—like Industry Standard—use its offshoot partnership Zappos for Good to offer mail-in denim recycling programs. The only caveat to Zappos’ denim recycling program is that your jeans need to be at least 90% cotton, so check the tag.

Other brands that offer independent mail-in programs for recycling denim:

• Patagonia Worn Wear: Accepts only Patagonia jeans, but payment depends on condition.
• Reformation RefRecycling: Accepts any jeans to be recycled through a partnership with SuperCircle.
• Neem London: Accepts anything that’s 100% cotton or wool.
• Mud Jeans: Offer free shipping inside the EU.
• Outland Denim: Only available in Australia.

Some of these companies will resell items, but typically when you donate old jeans to these places, the denim will get reused in new products or downcycled into useful things like meal delivery packaging, housing insulation, or padding for kraft paper mailers. Not only is this stopping textile waste, but providing a more eco-friendly alternative to things like fiberglass, styrofoam, and bubble wrap.

You might be surprised how far old jeans can go in your own hands. For instance, if you want to recycle jeans with holes in the knees or legs, simply crop them into shorts! You can even add some embroidery, patchwork, or cyanotype printed designs to give them a whole new look.

If you’re willing to dig deeper into deconstructing, there are tons of other possibilties:

• Armchair caddy: If you’re always losing the remote or your chapstick, whip up this creation to keep small items in order as you lounge.
• Denim skirt: Upcycle old jeans to skirts via a simple process.
• Denim jacket: You can learn how to make a denim jacket out of old jeans in this video.
• Denim quilt: If you’re handy with a sewing machine, follow some simple steps to make denim quilt. Plus, you can upcycle other clothes at the same time (like using old graphic t-shirts for the front squares and old socks for the batting).
• Denim rugs: Because denim is so durable, it can be the perfect material for some ground covering. This guide gives you several different ways to upcycle denim into a rug.
• Storage solutions: If you’re having trouble keeping things organized at home, you can upcycle denim into baskets (by either sewing or weaving, for those who want no-sew projects for old jeans) to corral odds and ends.
• Denim apron: Whether you want a place to stash your craft supplies or your cooking utensils while you’re on the move, this sturdy apron could be just the thing.
• Whale toy: The blues and grays of most denim lend themselves to the biggest marine animal for use as a baby toy.
• Make a draft door stopper by sewing one leg of your skinny jeans closed into a long tube and stuffing it with the remaining fabric scraps.
• Make a coin purse out of small fabric scraps
• Add jean pockets to bags: Cut out the pack pockets and sew them into your reusable grocery bags or canvas totes for a little extra on-the-go organization.

Downcycled Uses For Old Jeans

Because denim is such a durable and verstaile fabric, you can also recycle old jeans by downcycling into fabric scraps for use as sturdy backing fabric, quilt filling, or scraps for future denim repair jobs.

Bigger scraps can also become rags to add to your eco-friendly cleaning kit. In fact, the stitching from back jeans’ pockets might help to add a little abrasion for your next clean-up project. Or you can shred them and use as insulation.

This is the last option for how to dispose of old jeans, but that doesn’t make it any less sustainable. If your denim is 100% cotton, hemp, bamboo, or TENCEL™ lyocell fabric, it’s likely compostable. For bamboo and cotton that isn’t organic cotton, Check with the manufacturer to make sure it wasn’t treated with anything that could compromise its ability to break down.

A lot of thread and fabric glue isn’t compostable, so you may need to deconstruct your pair by cutting out components that are not compostable:

• Zippers, buttons, and rivets
• All thread
• Tags and leather brand patches

Before you throw it in your outdoor or indoor compost bin, shred it into small pieces to ensure it breaks down quickly.