Let’s Talk Trash: New Life for Old Neckties

This old tie is ready for a new life - Photo by Liesl Clark

What can you do with your old ties? Quite a lot! Here are a few of our favorites from the curated database our mobile app will access.

For starters, are you thinking about parting ways with your tie because it needs a bit of repair? Get your fix it hat on and see if you can sew it up with a basic repair stitch courtesy of Crafting A Green World.

If you are truly ready to pass your ties on to new lives, consider charities that rely on donations of unwanted neckties to support their work:

Ties That Matter is a 501c3 organization in Atlanta, GA that describes itself this way – “Ties That Matter is made up of a community of people tied together by a common dream of a whole and healthy earth and a shared belief that we are responsible for one another.” Ship your ties, any style from any era, to Ties That Matter, P.O. Box 11914, Atlanta, GA 30355 USA, and they will be transformed by women in Gonave, Haiti into the handmade dolls and bags they sell to support their families and communities.

Donation Town exists to help connect charities with people who want to donate items. Use their site to find a charity near you that will pick up your unwanted ties (and a long list of other items – get that spring cleaning started now!) for free and put them to a variety of good uses.

If you’re not quite ready to part with your old ties, you can transform them into something new and useful:

Turn your neckties into necklaces with help from this tutorial at Of Dreams and Seams. It’s a quick and easy project that requires basic hand sewing skills and a few extra supplies (needle, thread, scissors, wooden beads, possibly a metal clasp).

If you’re lucky enough to have a wide 70′s tie in your pile, you’re a few steps away from an upholstered light switch plate with the guidance of this tutorial from Eco-Artware.

If you’re ready for a more involved project, check out Blue Velvet Chair’s tutorial that upcycles an old shirt and a collection of ties into a kicky little dress.

As always, if you’d like to see your own DIY, upcycling, or reuse idea added to our database, or if your organization or company works with unwanted ties to give them new life, please let us know – Send us a note to getinvolved@teamcora.com