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When Cayla O鈥機onnell Davis launched听Knickey, a subscription service for organic cotton underwear last year, she also started a recycling program for customers鈥� old underwear, allowing them to trade in worn-out undies for a new pair.

After just six months, Knickey has collected thousands of pairs and gained a steady customer base, and Ms. Davis calls it 鈥渁 successful driver of business.鈥�

But Ms. Davis, who has a master鈥檚 in sustainability from Parsons School of Design, also started the program to educate consumers about the impact their clothing choices have on the environment.听听

鈥淏rands have a responsibility to not only provide wonderful offerings but to also think about garments beyond the customer鈥檚 use and where that ends up in the world,鈥� she says.

That focus on sustainability is on the rise among apparel businesses and customers alike. The idea of recycling fabrics may be at best a partial answer to improving this industry鈥檚 often-damaging environmental profile. Yet the success of companies like Knickey is a sign of how consumer attitudes are shifting. And recycling itself can be a foot in the door of consumer consciousness.

鈥淐onsumers need to look at the total effect鈥� of their choices, says Jeff Galak, associate professor of marketing for Carnegie Mellon University鈥檚 Tepper School of Business. If the goal is sustainability, he says, then rather than returning a product and buying a new one, it would be better to hold on to that shirt for another season.

Knickey, for its part, emphasizes the goal of sustainable materials and supply chains in its business,听along with accepting boxes of no-longer-used undies.

Some shoppers show signs of critical rigor in their purchasing habits.

鈥淚 would want to see proof that the clothing is actually recycled and that companies aren鈥檛 just dumping them,鈥� says Sarah Jean Harrison, a consumer who works as co-founder of听the creative agency Peace Flag House in York, Ontario.

Five years ago, Ms. Harrison watched 鈥淭he True Costs,鈥澨齛 documentary about the fashion industry, and stopped buying clothing. 鈥淚 was always looking for cheap clothes that looked good and I realized I couldn鈥檛 be part of that anymore,鈥� she says. For a long time she didn鈥檛 buy anything, then she started to buy vintage and secondhand clothes.

Now Ms. Harrison only buys clothes from sustainable brands. 鈥淚 research the brand before I buy anything,鈥� she says. She looks at the 鈥渁bout page鈥� for information about where it鈥檚 made, who is making it, and where the company sources materials.

Other resources for assessing sustainability include the Good On You App, which rates different fashion brands, and Remake鈥檚 Beginner鈥檚 Guide to Sustainable Fashion.

Knickey sends the used underwear to a local New York City nonprofit, Green Tree Textiles, where they鈥檙e sorted. Since underwear won鈥檛 be reused, it is recycled into insulation. When Green Tree receives clothing that can be worn again, it goes to for-profit and nonprofit partner organizations.

鈥淥ur mission is to keep it out of the landfill,鈥� says Serge Lazarev, Green Tree鈥檚 director. Some of the clothes will end up overseas, but they鈥檙e sent by container ship so the impact on the environment is minimal, he says.

If anything, it鈥檚 now becoming the norm for U.S. clothing makers to offer textile recycling programs as an incentive to buy new clothing.听

Fair Harbor is both a gatherer and a user of recyclable materials. It uses old plastic bottles to make new swimwear. It also encourages customers to recycle used swimwear by offering听a 10% discount for each swimsuit sent back, for up to 30% off their purchase.

鈥淲e think it鈥檚 important to discard clothing correctly, and we鈥檙e happy to offer that service to our customers,鈥� says CEO and co-founder Jake Danehy. Fair Harbor partners with 2ReWear, which is able to use about 45% of collected fiber 鈥渁s is,鈥� while the rest becomes things like home insulation, carpet padding, or wiping rags. However, most apparel that is reused 鈥渁s is鈥� is exported and sold in markets around the world.

Apparel firms ranging from J.Jill to听H&M offer customer discounts for drop-offs of worn clothing. But experts say it can be difficult to know if collected items are actually recycled or just sent overseas to countries that may or may not want them.

鈥淕iving a discount or coupon to shop is a marketing ploy,鈥� says Ayesha Barenblat, founder听of Remake, a nonprofit focused on educating shoppers. 鈥淲e feel good about it but it doesn鈥檛 mean we鈥檙e actually recycling.鈥�

The Sustainable Apparel Coalition developed the Higg Index to measure and score a company or product鈥檚 sustainability performance. But unlike the term 鈥渙rganic,鈥� there is no government agency defining sustainability or how to measure textile recycling, says Professor Galak. To a large degree each company can decide on its own how it will measure its sustainability efforts.

鈥淭hat doesn鈥檛 mean it鈥檚 incorrect or bad,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t just means there isn鈥檛 an easy way to compare.鈥�

Even just the process of collecting and sorting clothing has an impact on the environment. A consumer must ship or bring it to a retailer, and then it鈥檚 transported again by truck or ship for processing and reuse.

鈥淭he current pace of fast fashion is still outpacing our growth in sustainability,鈥� says Rachel Faller, creative director and founder of Tonl茅, which makes clothing from scrap waste sourced from mass clothing manufacturers.

Fashion companies should encourage people to keep their clothes longer and teach them how to properly wash them, she says. Clothes should be washed with cold water and, instead of putting them in the dryer, hang them to dry to increase their lifespan and decrease their carbon footprint, Ms. Faller adds.

The culture of disposability stems partly from low-quality apparel, but it鈥檚 also because people get tired of what鈥檚 hanging in their closet.

Ultimately, sustainability means a shift in buying habits. For instance, when Ms. Harrison started buying clothing again, she began budgeting and thinking strategically, because sustainable clothing is typically more expensive.

鈥淚t isn鈥檛 a feasible choice for everyone,鈥� she says. 鈥淏ut you can use your buying power to make small changes, even if you just reduce how much you buy from a fast-fashion outlet.鈥�