Schoolwear apparel with special insignia or styles are unable to resold, reused or donated due to intellectual property law, according to Lowes chief advisor Sarann Ryan.
This has caused the Australian fashion brand to hold onto tonnes of old schoolwear until a solution came forward.
“We held so much stock because we didn't want to burn it,” Ryan said. “We don't want to destroy it, we don't want to put in landfill. So we held it until the solution was there to actually manage it.
“That's a big difference in fashion versus uniforms in bespoke and distinctive outfits.”
Lowes is a family-owned apparel brand that operates 180 stores across Australia and has apparel contracts with 727 schools in the country.
This year, the apparel brand diverted up to 9 tonnes of old schoolwear through BlockTexx, along with 2.4 tonnes to Upparel.
Ryan said Lowes had explored various vendors to help recycle its schoolwear, as the sector is already under heavy regulation through the brand's various contracts. This includes contracts with Department of Education, along with other governing bodies that require the fashion brand to have a waste management bilateral agreement.
“So what does that mean? It means that we can't order more than 12 months worth of stock, but we're never allowed to be out of stock,” Ryan said.
“And that’s just one balance.”
In the lead up to signing on BlockTexx, Ryan said Lowes had to vet all the schoolwear product to learn who it could partner with to have it recycled.
"Language is a massive instrument in understanding the way that we have an attitude towards this situation," Ryan said. "And so we went with BlockTexx, and we recycled more than seven tonnes of schoolwear.
"It was a great feel good piece that we used as an education piece back into the schools. So we created a whole module around education so that kids asked, what happens to my school uniform when it's not on my back anymore?"
Meanwhile, in its standard menswear sold in-store and online, Ryan said there are no significant regulations bounding that product.
“We manage to look at the way that we look at our schoolwear, and that's our basis for how we do things,” Ryan said. “When it goes on the back of a men - they don't know that it's about fashion. You can bring out the same product as last year. So you get more longevity, it's not really fast fashion.
“So we have that nice balance in our business where we feel pretty comfortable about what we're doing, but obviously we can always do better.”