Textile recycling is not a new idea. Indeed, it is probably as old as the art of spinning and weaving. Benjamin Law is seen as the father of recycling as, in 1813 he was the first to take old clothes and process them into a state that could be re-spun into useable yarn. Textile recycling grew in popularity over the years and in the mid twentieth century the Rag and Bone Man was a familiar sight "driving" his horse and cart down the street. Children would rush out and give him any old clothes or objects that were no longer needed at home. It was an era where, traditionally, people kept their clothes a lot longer, mending and altering clothes, rather than the “throw away” trend seen today. Most of the clothes would be turned into Mungo and Shoddy (Mungo is disintegrated rags of woollen cloth, as distinguished from those of worsted, which form Shoddy). Thence it would be re-spun and turned into “new” materials for use in the textile trade. Interestingly the Rag and Bone trade had it’s origins in London in 1588 when Elizabeth 1 granted privileges to Mudlarks and Scavengers (usually children) and those who collected rags for making paper.

The Salvation Army’s involvement in Textile Recycling was motivated by the poverty seen in Victorian London. In those early days it was a fairly local affair and the clothes collected were distributed in and around the same location either for humanitarian needs or at jumble sales.