What happens to your clothing After?

After services both households and businesses, and operate with radical transparency. After focuses on end-of-life textiles that are torn, worn or unsellable. To introduce circularity, the textile waste is recycled into yarn for the home-furnishing and garment industry. Our vision is to empower all Australian consumers and businesses to ethically dispose of their textiles and create a circular economy. 

The Founder, Yesha Patel, is driven by sustainable fashion and environmental care, drawing inspiration from innovation and connection. Armed with a Masters in Entrepreneurship, she founded After to tackle textile waste, spurred by the lack of transparent disposal options. Co-founder Nehal shares her passion for sustainability, bringing a systems-thinking approach. Despite being a small team, their personal struggles with sustainability drive their determination to reduce textile waste's environmental impact through After's transformative solutions. We know what After can become for the future and we're here to build it. 

Why Melbourne? 

We chose Melbourne as the launchpad for our business for several compelling reasons:

• Addressing a Critical Need: Melbourne, like the rest of Australia, faces a pressing textile waste challenge, with a staggering 87.5% of textiles ending up in landfills. By establishing our operations here, we are tackling this issue head-on, providing an essential service to the community and the environment.

• Strategic Location: Melbourne's vibrant and diverse community provides an excellent foundation for our business. As one of Australia's largest cities, it offers a significant market for our services. Additionally, Melbourne's position as a hub for sustainability and innovation aligns perfectly with our mission of creating a circular economy.

• Community Engagement: Melbourne has a strong tradition of environmental consciousness and community engagement. By launching our business here, we can leverage this existing awareness and build a strong network of environmentally-conscious consumers and businesses.

The Challenge

Aussies throw away 6,000kg of clothing every 10 mins (that's 315,360 tonnes each year). We're the 2nd highest textile consumers in the world, and disposing just as much. People want to recycle properly and avoid their textiles hitting landfills, but current solutions lack transparency and convenience. Furthermore, recycling infrastructure is significantly insufficient, particularly in textiles. Textile recycling is problematic due to the various capital and labour-intensive steps involved as well as the variability of the input. There are also intricacies in the demand for the recycled output and creating a market for it.

How big is the problem? Globally and locally

As per the latest data, approximately 501 million kilograms of textiles and clothes were thrown annually in Australia. According to data from the EPA, textile waste has increased 811% since 1960. Currently, over 500,000 tonnes of textile waste end up in landfills worldwide. This is 85% of all clothing that ends up in landfills

Australia faces a pressing challenge: ranking highest in commercial and industrial textile waste per capita among OECD nations, with a staggering 87.5% of textiles ending up in landfills. Australia generates the most significant commercial and industrial textile waste per capita amongst its OECD counterparts. 

The Solution 

After is pioneering a circular economy by establishing essential infrastructure for recovering, recycling and recirculating unwearable textiles into raw materials that are circulated back into the economy. We collect your old clothing, bedding, socks and uniforms that you can't donate or re-wear. We provide a convenient doorstep collection for households and businesses. 

After has created a 3 way community between After, conscious consumers and Australian ethical brands. Every time a customer books a collection with After, they can choose to receive an exclusive discount with our network of Australian Sustainable brands, being an Australian first initiative. 

We are solving the following customer problems while creating positive climate impacts:

Textile Waste Reduction: We provide a convenient solution for households and businesses to responsibly dispose of unwearable textiles, reducing the amount of textile waste ending up in landfills.

Circular Economy: By recovering, recycling, and recirculating textiles back into the industry, we reduce the need for new raw materials, lowering the environmental impact of textile production, significantly reducing carbon emissions, contributing to a more sustainable future.

Conscious Consumerism: Through our 3-way community, we incentivize consumers to recycle textiles by offering exclusive discounts with sustainable brands, promoting more ethical and sustainable choices.

The Results 

Till date, we have serviced nearly 800 paid collections which has resulted in 8.9 tonnes of textile waste being diverted from landfill! We have organically built an online community of over 3,000 people and have expanded to Sydney and Auckland since launching. 

After has won multiple awards including the Best Pitch Award and People's Choice from University of Melbourne, Wade Institute. After has been mentioned by Smart Company, Renew Magazine, Planet Ark Recycling and more! We have been inundated with organic inbound queries from businesses, leading to our gradual B2B expansion in the past year. We’re currently part of the Melbourne Accelerator Program (MAP),  a 5-month program, designed to foster accountability, expand founder expertise, secure funding and nurture networks.

After's goal is to rapidly scale the volume of textile waste we collect. We’re looking to double our impact in the next year and reach more households and businesses across NZ and Australia. If you know any businesses or organisations that deal with uniforms, commercial linen, bedding or garments, they’d love an introduction!