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Textiles and clothing are among, besides food, both in quantities - as well as considered from the point of view of value to the most important goods in the global expense budget. Not only in the highly developed countries do they rank high – directly or indirectly - among the consumer goods.

The production and the consumption of textiles or clothing, in connection with the rising world population and rising income, globally, results in the fact that the per-capita-consumption of textiles has recorded an explosive increase. Thus, it is reasonable to assume that a growth rate in the world fibre production will exceed 70% by the year 2025. In Germany, the annual per capita consumption is approximately 24 kg. Of which more than half of this is for clothing.

The necessary growth in world fibre production however needs radical recycling measures,
especially in regards to the ecological as well as economic requirements to save resources. In the area of textile production the cultivation of cotton is marked by a high consumption of water and pesticides. The use of pesticides accounts here alone for a 50% share of the world consumption. In order e.g. to receive 1 kg of cotton, around 27,000 l of water are required in cultivation. Therefore, what can be more important than the recycling of textiles and spare resources?

Within the framework of old clothes collections textiles are supplied for reuse . The primary product remains unchanged. This form of textile recycling is extremely useful under ecological aspects, as production and consumption of new textiles are reduced and spared.

Even in the age of automation and high-tech, textile recycling has remained exclusively handwork: Experienced sorters feel the composition of the materials with their hands and sort these into 250 groups just by looking at them.

Around 50% of the collected textiles are reusable old clothes.

The remaining 50%, minus a certain proportion of waste, serve to produce recycling goods, thus e.g. cleaning cloths, reused textiles, filling and insulating materials or pieces of cardboard. A double effect is achieved with the provision of textiles for disaster warehouses of charity organisations for overseas missions and to stocking clothes’ stores for the local needy. After all, about 200,000 people in disaster regions profit from the commitment of the organisations, the know-how of the textile recycling companies and the textile collections in Germany alone. On average 80 - 85 % of the remaining textiles are sold to the textile recycling companies. Wearable old clothes of the best quality are marketed in domestic and European second-hand shops. A further use in down recycling is only made possible through this marketing. The German automobile industry alone processes 60,000 tonnes of this a year as insulating and filling material. Thus, textile collections help the charity and social organisations to finance their so valuable work.

As the classical textile collections of the associations are becoming more and more difficult to realise due to the less commitment from the required voluntary workers and surveys show that a mere 15% of the whole population take part in these collections, various well-known organisations have also introduced a stationary collection system using containers, in order to reach a wider clientele.

The FWS company in Bremen offers its partners a widespread collection system according to the criteria of modern collection.