I have a bunch of jeans with holes in them. I've tried patching some, but I'm not very good at sewing, and most are beyond saving.
Should I throw them away, donate them to a thrift store, or can I recycle them into something else?
Edit: the ones that ripped at the knees I already turned into jorts, the rest are mostly ripped in the crotch/ass area
As a general rule if you consider something unfit to wear, use, or eat you shouldn't give it to someone who needs support.
As for recycling, the best use of denim jeans I can think of is cutting them up to make patches for other denim jeans.
My crotch always gets blown out too, it's pretty frustrating. I think it's because I often squat or sit weirdly in my chair and that puts a lot of stress on the area. Where can I buy ultra-triple-reinforced-crotch jeans that can put up with my fidgety lifestyle?
On the recycling front, my local grocery does denim drives where they take the denim and reprocess it into insulation. If you can't find a local program like that and you're not squeamish about who exactly is running the drive, some major clothing retailers participate in similar programs. Personally, the most important thing is the reuse itself, so even if it's some shitass company like H&M and they can offset their taxes a few bucks or whatever, I'd prefer that to landfilling, and I'm pretty sure it's the same organization doing the actual recycling bit regardless of who's collecting the denim.
For the pairs that might be worth salvaging, you can always pay someone to fix them (budget permitting). I've done that with a few of my favorite pairs—just brought them to the dry cleaners and had them mended. For more extensive damage, this probably doesn't make strict financial sense, unfortunately. The disincentive to repair rather than landfill is one of the many negative externalities of cheap consumer goods.
If you don't know someone who would want to cut them up for patchwork you can still recycle them with good conscience as old clothes can be recycled into paper and other things
There's only so many oil rags you can have :shrug-outta-hecks:
You could idk reupholster plushies and furniture given enough fabric?
Legs can be cut free of the seat, turned inside out with one leg hole sewn shut, turned inside in, and you've got a sack. Fill it with fabric and you've got a pillow and secure the open end and you've got a pillow. Fill it with gravel and you've got a door stop or weight. Fill it with dirt/sand and you've got a sand bag. Get some cheap grommets from a hobby store and hammer them onto the opened end and you can fill them with stuff and tie them closed. Or the grommets can be used with heavy twine/wire to make a short lived (as in a few years) outside hanging planter.
