March 3, 2022

4 Min Read
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Ticket sales launch on Wednesday, March 2ndfor the fourth annual ReFashion Week NYC, taking place from April 2-April 8. The week-long celebration of sustainable fashion, organized annually by the Sanitation Foundation and the New York City Department of Sanitation’s donateNYC program, will feature a calendar of specially-curated events focused on reducing textile waste and reimagining the fashion industry.

The week kicks off on April 2nd with the ReFashion Week Opening Expo and Marketplace at Brooklyn Army Terminal, where attendees can shop from sustainable and secondhand vendors and learn from expert panelists working in the field of sustainable fashion. From April 3-7, mission-aligned events will be held virtually and in-person across the City, ranging from repair workshops to shopping opportunities to clothing swaps. ReFashion Week NYC will wrap up back at Brooklyn Army Terminal on April 8th with the ReFashion Show, a runway show and competition showcasing the work of talented New York designers and stylists. The featured looks (crafted from sustainably sourced materials or styled from the inventory of nonprofit thrift stores) will be evaluated live by a panel of industry expert judges to name the 2022 ReFashion Week NYC winners.

The 2022 ReFashion Week Lookbook will also launch Wednesday, March 2nd on refashionweek.nyc, featuring looks styled by last year’s ReFashion Show winners with clothing from donateNYC non-profit thrift store partners Housing Works, Big Reuse, and Goodwill. An annual publication, the ReFashion Week Lookbook aims to demonstrate to New Yorkers that shopping secondhand can yield stylish looks on a budget while also reducing waste.

Every year, New Yorkers send approximately 200,000 tons of clothing, shoes, and accessories to landfill. Keeping these items out of landfill through reuse, repair, and recycling, equates to greenhouse gas emission reductions of 1,231,917 metrics tons and energy usage reductions of 9,707,680 million BTUs!

That is the equivalent of:

  • Planting 378,338 acres of air-cleaning forests

  • Keeping 266,073 cars off the road for one year

“New Yorkers throw away 900 Statues of Liberty worth of clothing every year. Getting these textiles out of landfills is a key part of meeting our ambitious zero-waste goals, and ReFashion Week helps do that while highlighting the incredible creativity of our City’s fashion community. I hope to see everyone there, wearing their finest thrifted clothes, at the runway show,” said Edward Grayson, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Sanitation.

ReFashion Week NYC 2022 will take place at the Brooklyn Army Terminal, hosted by the NYC Economic Development Corporation.  Programmatic support is provided by the donateNYC Partnership, including Housing Works, Goodwill, FABSCRAP, and fashion industry partners.

"ReFashion Week is our favorite time of year! Housing Works is proud to contribute to the style and sustainability of New York City through our ongoing partnership with donateNYC and their network of talented stylists,” said Elizabeth Koke, Creative Director, Housing Works.

This 4th annual iteration of the event is sponsored by MPB, the New York City Economic Development Corporation, Mebl, Lenzing and more.

“The City has an ambitious goal to send zero textile waste to landfills and we understand that government can’t accomplish this alone,” said Julie Raskin, Executive Director of the Sanitation Foundation. “It takes cross-sector collaboration and that’s why we love how ReFashion Week brings together the public, private and nonprofit sectors to envision a more sustainable future.”

For a full listing of events and to view the ReFashion Week Lookbook, visit refashionweek.nyc.

About the New York City Department of Sanitation

The Department of Sanitation (DSNY) promotes a healthy environment through the efficient management of solid waste and the development of environmentally sound long-range planning for handling refuse, including recyclables. The Department operates 59 district garages and manages a fleet of more than 2,000 rear-loading collection trucks, 450 mechanical brooms and 695 salt/sand spreaders. The Department clears litter, snow and ice from approximately 6,500 miles of City streets and removes debris from vacant lots as well as abandoned vehicles from City streets.

About donateNYC

donateNYC, a program of the NYC Department of Sanitation, helps New Yorkers give goods, find goods, and do good, with tools that make it easy to donate or find used items. donateNYC also provides vital support for New York City’s reuse community, helping nonprofit reuse organizations increase and promote their reuse efforts.

By donating and reusing goods instead of discarding them, New Yorkers can greatly reduce waste, conserve energy and resources, save money, and help provide jobs and human services for New Yorkers in need. donateNYC is an essential part of NYC’s Zero Waste Goals.

About The Sanitation Foundation

The Sanitation Foundation, founded in 2016, is the official nonprofit organization of the New York City Department of Sanitation. Supported by private funding and in-kind donations, the Foundation leverages non-traditional strategies to promote sustainability and advance the essential services of Sanitation employees.

The Sanitation Foundation is supported, in part, by grants from The Association for a Better New York (ABNY), Bloomberg Philanthropies, Closed Loop Partners, Con Edison, Covanta, Lily Auchincloss Foundation, Mack Trucks, MPB, National Grid, PepsiCo Recycling, Verizon Wireless and WeCare Denali.  We’d like to extend our deepest appreciation to all donors and friends of the Sanitation Foundation, who make our programs possible.

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