Background

There are 880,000 students in kindergarten, primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong, and it is estimated that students change their uniforms every 1-2 years. Given that each student has 6 to 8 sets of uniforms in average including summer, winter, and sports uniforms, it is estimated that around 4 million pieces of uniforms are replaced every year.

As a result, the carbon dioxide emitted each year for replacing school uniforms in Hong Kong is equivalent to that of a car travelling 1,200 times around the earth, and the water used in the process is enough for all Hong Kong citizens to drink for 3 years.

The current challenges with uniform recycling are that:

• The “Community Used Clothes Recycling Bank Scheme” in Hong Kong and second-hand clothing stores do not accept uniform donations
• Schools do not have sufficient manpower to run a uniform resale or recycling program
• While there may be a uniform resale program, around 30% of the donated uniforms cannot be reused due to poor quality.

Enter Dress Green.

Dress Green is a local social enterprise that aims to reduce, recycle, and repurpose fashion waste whilst creating meaningful job opportunities for underprivileged communities.

We offer the ‘UNI Green Program’ to schools that are interested in reducing their waste. Collection boxes are provided to collect and sort uniform donations so that uniforms that are in good condition can be resold, whilst uniforms of poor quality that are not suitable for resale can be upcycled and repurposed into school souvenirs by our team. They can also be used in Dress Green’s upcycling workshops to educate students on sustainable fashion.

Our company has a team of award-winning sustainable designers that design the upcycled products. We also partner with local shelters to provide valuable skills training to elderly garment workers and people with disabilities to sort, sanitize, and upcycle used school uniforms into unique, iconic products.