15 Survival Uses for Old Clothes

Do you have any old clothes laying around? If so, your first thought may have just been to throw them away. And if that’s the case, you may want to think again.

If you’re someone who highly values self-sufficiency and making unordinary uses out of ordinary items, old clothes should be the last thing that you just want to carelessly toss away. You’re about to find out why.

Here are fifteen survival uses for old clothes:

Cleaning Rags

This is arguably the simplest way to reuse old clothes, and especially for old T-shirts.

Simply cut up the shirts and other clothing items into smaller pieces, and you can use them to wipe down surfaces in your kitchen, bathrooms, or other rooms of your home.

It would certainly save you money versus having to go buy new towels.

Cordage

Cut strips of fabric from old clothes to make improvised cordage for tying shelters, securing gear, or fashioning traps.

During a crisis, old clothes can be repurposed into essential cordage for shelter building.

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By tearing strips of fabric from worn-out garments, you can create sturdy cords to tie together branches, construct shelters, and secure tarps or other materials for protection against the elements

Blanket (or Quilt)

If you’re short on blankets, old clothes might be the next best alternative.

It’s possible to stitch pieces of clothes together to make a makeshift quilt or blanket, or alternatively, you can just use the clothes individually.

Larger coats would be better for this use.

Patch Old Clothes

Do you have any clothes that have become ripped or torn? If so, you can use pieces of old clothing to patch them up with nothing else more other than a needle and thread.

For example, you can repair a rip in a pair of jeans with the piece of another old pair of jeans. They may not look quite as nice, but they’ll still function just as well.

Makeshift Bandage or Tourniquet

One of the more critical survival use cases for old clothes is to use them as a makeshift bandage or tourniquet for open wounds. Just make sure that the clothes are washed and clean before wrapping them up over the site of an open wound to prevent the risk of infection.

Learn more here about the 10 medical supplies you need to stockpile before it’s too late. With the right supplies and knowledge, increase your chances of survival in emergency situations

Makeshift Sling or Splint

On that same note, you can also use old clothes as a makeshift sling or to help fashion a splint.

You can tie old shirts or a pair of pants together, sling it around your shoulder, and then place your affected arm through the resulting sling.

To make a makeshift splint, you can attach sticks or wooden poles to the sides of your affected limb to act as a splint, and then wrap an old shirt or pieces of clothes around the sticks to hold them securely in place.

Build a Stretcher

If you find two large wooden poles, you can tie a pair of old pants, jackets, or shirts in between the two poles to create a makeshift stretcher.

Make a Bandana

Either tie an old shirt or a large enough piece of old clothing around your neck, and you can turn it into a makeshift bandana. Bandanas serve an abundance of survival uses, so this isn’t something you’ll want to overlook. A bandana can be used to protect your neck from the sun, cover your nose and mouth from smoke, or be used as a cool compress.

Fire Starter

Old clothes can be excellent for getting a fire going.

This is because most clothes are made out of natural fibers (such as linen, cotton, or wool), which are very flammable.

Use a knife or a pair of scissors to shred up your clothes into smaller strips, and then place these strips into the middle of a pile of dry kindling materials with the ends of the strips sticking out.

Ignite the strips, and the fire should spread into the kindling to heat it up before igniting. You can gradually add more fuel from there.

Makeshift Water Filter

In a survival situation, access to clean water is crucial for maintaining health and hydration.  By stretching fabric over containers, they effectively filter out debris from collected water. However, it’s crucial to note that filtration alone isn’t sufficient; water should also be purified through boiling, chemical treatment, or filtration devices to remove pathogens.

You can learn here a cheap and easy way to create an ingenious rainwater harvesting and purification system capable of storing 165 gallons of water.

Shelter Building

You can also use old clothes to aid you in building survival shelters. For example, you can use strips of old pants or T-shirts to secure a tarp to trees to make a lean-to survival shelter.

Alternatively, you can use old clothes as makeshift bedding, pillows, or to use as blankets to help keep you warm.

Building Makeshift Survival Weapons

You can also use old clothes to help you make makeshift survival weapons. For example, you can use strips of old clothes to lash a knife to the end of a wooden pole to make a survival spear.

Slingshot

If you remove the elastic part of the waistband of a pair of underwear, you can affix it to a forked stick to create a slingshot. It’s actually more effective than you may think.

Related: 7 Homemade Weapons That a Prepper Should Have

Sun Protection

You can use old clothes to protect your skin from the sun. One idea is to wrap an old shirt or pair of pants around the top of your head to act as a makeshift sunhat and protect your forehead, face, and neck from the sun’s UV rays. It may look a little goofy, but it will get the job done.

Mittens

You should always include an extra pair of socks in your survival kit. Not only can they be used as spares in case the socks on your feet get wet, but you can also place them over your hands to use as makeshift mittens for keeping your hands warm

Your clothes are more versatile than just their intended use. When you have old clothes that you’re considering throwing away, don’t. Either give them away to someone else in need, or repurpose them for your survival like we’ve gone over in the above use cases.

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