Your used underwear can now be recycled to grow food and help save the planet – how compostable intimate wear eliminates waste

To be stretchy, underwear often uses spandex or elastane – neither is recyclable – and throwing it away adds up to billions of pounds of textile waste over time

Companies like Kent are looking to change that – it makes ‘fully compostable’ underwear from 100 per cent pima cotton that can be turned into soil to grow food

Reading Time:4 minutes

Underwear is rarely recyclable and often ends up in landfills. Some companies, like Kent in the US, are making it fully compostable. Photo: @wearkent/Instagram

Published: 4:15pm, 17 Dec 2022

As apparel brands face pressure to curb fashion’s enormous waste problem, many are turning to resale programmes that let consumers cash in on used clothes. But companies that make intimates do not typically have that option.

When underwear is past its prime, the obvious solution is to throw it away, adding up to billions of pounds of textile waste over time.

What if there was another way?

Los Angeles-based Kent says there is. For two years, the US company has been selling a line of “fully compostable” underwear made from 100 per cent pima cotton, which has longer fibres and is known to last longer than traditional cotton blends. Customers can buy Kent undies for about US$25 apiece online.

For two years, Kent has been selling a line of “fully compostable” underwear made from 100 per cent pima cotton. Photo: @wearkent/Instagram

When a pair of Kent undies are ready for decommissioning, they can be dropped into a regular compost bin or sent back to the company, which works with a partner in southern California that repurposes the briefs into soil.

Since launching in 2020, Kent says it has sold 17,500 pairs. Earlier this year, the company received US$200,000 and a nod from investor Daymond John on television show Shark Tank.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x