It saddens me to think that young people (maybe you’re one of them) have zero experience with high-quality fashion. Fast fashion has been around long enough now that many young people are only familiar with clothes that look funny after the first wash. They’ve known nothing but shirts that spring tiny holes in them fairly soon after wearing, or skirts or slacks that quickly pill in the lap and thigh areas.

But this used to be unheard of. Our parents and grandparents grew up with quality clothes made out of sturdy fabrics, and they were taught to take care of their clothes, because unless they were wealthy, they didn’t have too many. Now people have closets-full, and Instagram influencers make their living by persuading people that once you’ve worn something, you should move on to the next new thing, which they happen to be wearing today and that you can buy through their links.

So what happens to all those discarded clothes that either quickly went out of style, or have an odd shape or shade from being washed? Well, this article includes stunning photos of where your old clothes go.

What a waste! I’m glad to know that some of these cheap fabrics are being recycled into insulation, but it would be better if they had never wound up there in the first place. Without fast fashion, there would be no piles of unwanted clothing. They would either stay in our closets or be worn by someone who found them in a thrift shop. And they would hold up for a long time, and then they could be turned into cleaning rags.

Instead of closets overcluttered with fast fashion, we’d have closets containing fewer garments of much higher quality that we’re able to wear often. That’s why the closets in old houses are so small. People didn’t have a lot of clothes clutter; they had far fewer clothes of much higher quality. I’d like to see the world head back in that direction.