Zero Waste Daniel: Sustainably Stylish

By: Sophie Neuhaus

If you’ve ever searched for sustainable fashion on the internet, it’s likely you’re familiar with Daniel Silverstein, aka Zero Waste Daniel. Known for his streetwear made from rescued and recycled fabrics, Zero Waste Daniel has come to be synonymous with the next generation of fashion designers seeking to shrink the environmental impact of the industry. 

Though most people are unaware of it, fashion is a major contributor to our global environmental crisis. From water pollution to textile waste, the increasing demand for fast fashion has had severe impacts on our environment and our waste streams. In New York City alone, approximately 200,000 tons of clothing, shoes, linens, and accessories are sent to landfill every year -- that’s about 120 pounds per household! Keeping this waste out of landfills could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 461,388 metric tons and energy usage by 4,217,909 million BTUs. That’s like planting 378,338 acres of air-cleaning forests or keeping 98,798 cars off the road for one year.

Luckily, this doesn’t mean that everyone needs to stop buying new clothes -- it simply means that we have to make better choices about how we make and dispose of our wardrobes. That’s where people like Daniel come in.

We first partnered with Zero Waste Daniel as part of his New York Fashion Week 2019 collection, ZWDSNY. Together we developed a clothing line celebrating DSNY made from deadstock Sanitation materials and other up-cycled fabrics. The collection not only showcased the incredible potential of reclaimed fabrics, but it also helped New Yorkers see DSNY through a new lens. By transforming forgotten uniforms into trendy outfits, Daniel’s collection helped garner a renewed appreciation for the Sanitation employees who work hard to keep our City clean. Daniel even took it a step further, flexing his comedy muscles during his NYFW exhibition with a stand-up show benefitting the Sanitation Foundation.

Read more about our partnership with Zero Waste Daniel here, then learn more about ReFashion Week and find out how you can support our work to reduce textile waste in New York City!