What is SMART?
The association of Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles is an international trade organization comprised of businesses across the world; dedicated to promoting a closed-loop resource economy for textile-based products. With board members representing a wide range of prominent clothing and textile related industry verticals, SMART members each lend their unique insight to foster programs and standards designed to extract maximum economic and ecological value from the worlds textile, fiber, and clothing production.
Sitting on the SMART board of directors, Bank & Vogue’s vice-president Scott Nowlan acts as a voice to represent the needs, wants, and expectations of the post-consumer clothing and textile market. Lending his unique perspective on the challenges faced by the North-American used clothing collection and recycling industry, as well as international clothing re-sellers, he helps to define industry standards and programs that make recycling easier and more profitable for these industries and Bank & Vogue partners.
The Benefits of SMART Association:
Bank & Vogue has played a role in establishing several initiatives that promote the interests of the environment and the clothing re-selling industry worldwide. Designed to provide international clothing re-sellers unprecedented access to quality used clothing, as well as divert millions of tonnes of clothing from landfills, our collaboration with SMART has helped to inform public policy worldwide with respect to the proper use and management of clothing collection bins.
Benefits For Bank & Vogue’s Business, Charity, or Non-Profit Partners
Bank & Vogue collaborates with SMART members to produce and distribute ‘position papers’ to key public decision makers worldwide, informing them of policies and procedures they can realize to maximize the effect of clothing collection bins in their jurisdictions.

Environmental Benefits of SMART
The United States Environmental Protection Agency estimates that only 15.3% of America’s approximately 251 million tonnes of annual clothing and textile waste are (as of 2012) being recovered or recycled. (Municipal Solid Waste Report, Page 7, Fig 1) The same agency estimates that nearly half (48%) of the textile we waste is perfectly reusable. Keeping in mind that a single pound of textile is estimated to emit more than 3-4 pounds of CO2 during decomposition, and that the average cotton t-shirt takes approximately 2700 litres of water to produce, even a small impact on textile and clothing recycling serves to tremendously benefit the planet. Studies performed by SMART and like-minded organizations have revealed that:
- 64% of people don’t want to drive more than 5 miles to recycle their clothing and shoes.
- 84% of people finding convenience of location and access important to choosing whether to discard or recycle their clothes.
Participate in the Cause, and Enjoy The Benefits of a SMART Association, with Bank & Vogue
