We’re collaborating with a textile manufacturer who has dramatically improved the fibre recovery process.
Their state–of–the–art recycling facility can clean, sort, shred and reconstitute textile waste to be spun into new yarn; giving a second life to discarded textiles that may otherwise end up in Australian landfill.
Collect
Pre and post–consumer textile waste is collected from people and businesses around Sydney, NSW. Including charity stores, manufacturers, fashion labels and retailers.
Recover
Collected waste is sent to Hong Kong recycling plant for fibre recovery, where everything is Ozone laundered, colour sorted and shredded down to a fibrous fleece.
Spin
Recovered waste fibres are combined with complementary virgin fibres and spun into various weights of yarn. This happens at a separate facility in Guangdong, China.
Create
Resulting varieties of yarn can be knitted into new apparel, accessories and homewares, and will comprise our commercial line of recycled yarns.
‘Fibre First’ design
To avoid the use of water, bleach and dyestuff, waste items are mechanically sorted by colour before shredding. Once spun, this results in a tonally consistent yarn; the colour of which is entirely determined by the different waste items that were combined to create it.
An absolute necessity
Advancing our capacity to recycle textiles is crucial if we hope to shift society away from its current reliance on landfill.
This unsustainable reliance on landfill is pushing Australians down a dangerous path towards environmental degradation.
With global consumption of apparel and footwear estimated to increase by 63% in the coming decade, intervention at both ends of the product lifecycle is more necessary than ever. This includes better, more environmentally conscientious production practices and the development of more comprehensive civic and industrial systems to recycle waste. The latter being what we’re working towards.
Project kits and digital patterns to come