Freitag, a fashion company based in Zurich, Switzerland, is creating clothes that are 100 percent compostable – down to the last thread. After two to five months of use, they will begin decomposing, leaving nothing behind, contributing to the fight against clothing waste.

Founded by brothers Markus Freitag and Daniel Freitag in 1993, Freitag gained a lot of fame in the fashion industry when they began making bags out of recycled materials, like truck tarpaulins. Since it saw large-scale success with its recycled bags, it spent five years developing its first compostable garment. It was supposed to be a new uniform for workers in Freitag’s factories, but the Freitag brothers saw potential in selling it. They believed that it could create a massive shift in the fashion industry.

“We ended up crating clothes that are completely biodegradable,” said Pascal Dulex, Freitag’s creative director, during a design festival. “Once you want to get rid of them, you just compost them – you bury them and there’s hopefully growing something new.”

The average person throws away 70 pounds’ worth of shoes and clothes annually. According to studies, it takes over 5,000 gallons of water to manufacture either a single T-shirt or a pair of jeans. Nearly 20 percent of global waste water being produced by the fashion industry. With that in mind, alternatives to the fast fashion model of production like the ones championed by Freitag are sorely needed.