227. What Waste Free Product Design Actually Looks Like with Ruffwear
About this episode
The episode discusses the impact of textile waste and how Ruffwear approaches product design to minimize waste.
In 2024, the world generated an estimated 120 million metric tons of textile waste. That's the equivalent of every person on Earth throwing away about 33 pounds of clothing and other textiles in a single year. If it’s easier to picture, 33 pounds- that's equivalent to roughly 30 to 50 pieces of clothing per person in a single year. And the vast majority of those textiles will never become new textiles. Most ultimately end up in landfills or are incinerated. But, like I just did a few moments ago, we often talk about textile waste through the lens of fashion. Strictly the clothes we wear every day. The problem is that this textile problem extends far beyond our closets. It includes textiles used in furniture, carpets, cars, footwear—and yes, that includes outdoor gear and even our pet products like our dog’s harness. It's easy to hear this and think the solution is simply to buy less. And while our purchasing decisions do matter, the bigger issue is one of design and production. If products are built to fail, impossible to repair, or quickly replaced by new versions, waste is baked into the system from the start. So what happens when a company takes the opposite approach? What if…
People in this episode
Guests: Monica Broder, Pete Kearns
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Ruffwear
Places: Earth
More episodes of Outdoor Minimalist
- Forest Service Proposal Reduces Public Input, Mining in the Porkies, and Threats to Utah Monuments - Public Lands News (June 22 - July 13)
- 226. Is Dr. Bronner's Really Sustainable? with Greening Up My Act
- 225. Can the Outdoor Industry Really Call Itself a Climate Leader?
- Does It Matter If I Pick Up My Dog’s Poop or Not? with Rose Seemann [REPOST]
- Mike Lee's Roadless Rule Amendment, NPS Funding Diverted, and ORV Access Expands - Public Lands News (June 8 - 15)
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Outdoor Minimalist podcast page.