Recycled wardrobe: find out how yesterday's trash might end up in your closet.

It's in fashion to recycle. Clothing designers are finding stylish ways to reuse refuse, turning plastic bottles into fleece, tires into shoes, and billboards into backpacks. Recycling not only keeps trash out of overflowing landfills and from polluting waterways and green spaces, it also provides raw materials to make new products.

Check out some down-to-earth styles that look cool and help the environment.

SEW CREATIVE

Skirt made from men's ties When Courtney Lange and Molly Kooiman were teens, they got the idea to turn men's old ties into something new. Now the designer duo sell custom-made tie skirts through their online company, Label Me Clothing. "We pick the ties up at local thrift stores," say the girls. Then they sew the ties together, trim off the skinny ends, add a zipper and waistband, and voila: a tie skirt.

RETREAD SOLES

Flip-flops from worn tires Roughly 299 million used car tires are discarded in the U.S. annually. Cliff Drill, owner of Splaff Inc., salvages 5,000 to 10,000 of them every year to create flip-flops and sandals. These shoes have soles made from the wheels' treed and a cushiony foot bed of finely ground tire. The tough treads transform into durable soles that virtually never wear out, says Drill.

BOTTLE NECK

Soda-bottle fleece After you toss a plastic soda bottle into a recycle bin, it gets sorted, cleaned, shredded, and melted. Then, it can be stretched into long fibers and woven into polyester. This lightweight fabric doesn't absorb water--unlike cotton or wool--and it's a good insulator. So it's used to make many sporty clothes, like this scarf from Cagoule Fleece and this vest from Patagonia.

RESPUN THREADS

Recycled cotton T-shirt Before clothes even make it onto store racks, they've left behind a trail of fabric pieces on the sewing-room floor. Billions of pounds of these leftovers get discarded each year. But these scraps can be recycled and respun into new threads. This Earth Day T-shirt from Clothes Made from Scrap is woven from 50 percent recycled cotton material.

SWEET BAG

Candy-wrapper handbag If a candy manufacturer misprints a label or discontinues one of the company's confections, the unusable packaging usually gets trashed. But traditional artists in Mexico and Peru are weaving these shiny scraps into one-of-a-kind Ecoist handbags. If not reused or recycled, plastics--like these wrappers--can stick around in landfills for decades before they degrade, or break down.

THRIFTY BLUES

Thrift-store jeans The average American throws away 68 pounds of clothing every year, according to the Council for Textile Recycling. "One of the beat ways to recycle is to donate your old stuff to a thrift store," says Kerstin Block, president of the used-clothing chain Buffalo Exchange. While you're giving your clothes a second life, you can pick up something stylish and "new," like these blue jeans, for cheap.

BAG IT

Bag made from old billboard signs Highway billboards are made from vinyl, a heavy plastic material that helps the outdoor advertisements withstand the elements. Once the giant ads come down, they can still be put to good use. Cutting up the signs and sewing them together creates heavy-duty bags like this one sold by Greenloop.

MISHMASH 

Shoes made from just about everything These sneakers by Terra Plana are made from the ultimate trash mashup: discarded parachutes, blankets, T-shirts, jackets, leather from car seats, coffee bags, jeans, fireman uniforms, and men's suits. Phew! That's one long list that would have been destined for the junkyard.

EARTH: Recycling Recycled Wardrobe

PRE-READING PROMPTS

Jump-start your lesson with these pre-reading questions:

* Americans use a lot of plastic, including roughly 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour. But they recycle only 5 percent of all plastics. Why do you think it's important to recycle and also reduce the amount of waste you produce?

* Many companies that make clothes from recycled materials even recycle the wastes created during the clothing-making process. Some manufacturers have used the leftover material to make tags, labels, and packaging. How does using a product made front recycled materials help the environment?

CRITICAL THINKING:

* Look at the bottom of a plastic container and you will usually find a triangular recycling symbol with a number in the center. What does this symbol mean? What does the number stand for? For answers, visit this Department of Energy Web site: www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts /saving/recycling/solidwaste/plastics.html

CROSS-CURRICULAR CONNECTIONS:

ARTS: Recycling programs vary from one community to another. Research to find out what types of materials are collected for recycling in your neighborhood, and what items are not. Then create a poster to educate the public on how to recycle in your community.

RESOURCES

* This Web site from the DIY Television network shows you how to turn old ties into skirts or wrist cuffs: www.diynetwork.com/diy/shows/episode /0,2046,DIY_14255_44152,00.html

* Learn how two companies turn worn-out goods into new products: Nike's Reuse A Shoe program: www.nike.com/nikebiz/nikebiz.jhtml?page=27&cat=reuseashoe Patagonia's Common Threads program: www.patagonia.com/web/us/patagonia.go?assetid=1956

Project Eco Runway

In "Recycled Wardrobe" (p. 16), you learned that many fashion designers have recycled trash into cool, wearable gear. You can do the same! Follow the rules below to try your hand at brainstorming eco-fashions. Then, present your design idea in a classroom "fashion show."

PART A: DESIGN-IDEA RULES

Your mission: Use your imagination to design a piece of clothing or accessory made out of items destined for the trash.

The product must meet the following requirements:

1. At least 60 percent of your creation must be made from recycled goods.

2. It can feature only real materials. For example, it can contain soda cans, but it cannot feature "secret ingredient X."

3. The product is designed to be wearable.

4. The item must be safe to wear. (No hazardous materials allowed.)

5. It can be worn more than once.

PART B: DESIGN-IDEA SHOWCASE

For your classroom "eco-fashion show," create a poster board to show off your design idea to fellow-student designers. Then, display the poster in your class's "Eco-runway Gallery."

The poster must include the following:

1. A statement that introduces your product.

2. A list of materials used to make your product.

3. A drawing of your design. Remember to label each part of your product and include information on what the part is made of.

4. For each recycled item you used, provide information on how it would affect the environment if it were not recycled.

5. An explanation of what makes your product environmentally friendly.