Finally, there is a way to put fashion first without putting the environment second. There is a way to turn used cotton and viscose into new biodegradable pulp, new fibres, new yarn, new fabrics and new garments that can be produced and worn with a clear conscience. Because Swedish company Renewcell has made fashion sustainable by recycling clothes into new garments.
A hole in the loop
Before a shirt is worn for the first time it has been through more steps than most customers realise. Often one producer makes the yarn, another knits or weaves it into textile fabric, and a third makes the shirt from the fabric. Now it’s ready for the customer to wear.
When garments are worn out or no longer wanted some are sold second-hand or used as hand-me-downs, but the vast majority end up in landfills or are incinerated. Much too few are recycled due to the fact that cotton and viscose can’t be recycled with satisfactory quality on a large enough scale. The cycle stops, because there is a hole in the loop, a crucial part is missing. Until now.
Renewcell’s recycling technology dissolves used cotton and other natural fibres into a new, biodegradable raw material, Circulose pulp. It can be turned into textile fibres, be fed into the textile production cycle and meet industry specifications. This is the link that has been missing from the cycle. The way fashion is produced and consumed can finally be transformed into a never-ending loop.
If the world’s population increases as expected, there will be 8.5 billion people by 2030. And as the population grows, apparel consumption grows with it. But producing even more apparel will have significant impact on water use, CO2 emissions, use of chemicals and waste disposal. It’s not sustainable. Something has to change. Renewcell has developed this process of recycling cotton fibres and viscose fibres that uses less water and chemicals, emits less CO2 and prolongs the usage of the world’s resources. More used cotton garments can be collected and the volume of garments made from recycled, biodegradable textile fibres can increase.
If one kilo of clothing is recycled instead of being produced from virgin sources, it saves thousands of litres of water and decreases emissions of both CO2 and chemicals.
The process
Renewcell’s recycling technology transforms high cellulosic waste into pure, natural dissolving pulp, Circulose pulp. It’s an efficient process that reuses chemicals, and it’s up and running in the company’s first plant in Kristinehamn, Sweden.
The company receives used garments with high cellulosic content (cotton and viscose). The textiles are shredded, de-buttoned, de-zipped, de-colored and turned into a slurry. Contaminants and other non-cellulosic content are separated from the slurry. The slurry is dried to produce a pure, natural Circulose branded pulp, which is packaged into bales and fed into the textile production cycle.
Using this process, the Kristinehamn plant produces thousands of tons of biodegradable Circulose pulp per year. It’s just a drop in the ocean – the textile industry produces millions of tons of dissolving pulp every year – but it’s a drop that sends ripples that can change the fashion industry.
Tests have compared textile fibres made from Circulose pulp with those made from dissolving pulp made from wood. Renewcell’s fibres have higher quality in a number of areas: tensile strength in both wet and dry condition, dyestuff absorbtion and in withstanding high abrasion.
The company happily receives any kind of used garments or textile waste with a high content of natural fibres. Fibres made from Circulose pulp have a lot in common with cotton fibres. They are organic, sustainable and allow for a better use of the Planet’s resources.
The future is here
Recently, fashion company BESTSELLER announced a new collaboration facilitated by its ‘Fashion FWD Lab’with Renewcell. Three BESTSELLER brands – Vero Moda, Object and Selected – are some of the first fashion brands to produce garments at market scale from Circulose recycled material.
“This is innovation at market scale. It’s an extremely important milestone for BESTSELLER and our Fashion FWD Lab that we now have a sustainable recycling method to produce commercial fashionable garments for our stores. Even more incredible, Circulose is a low-impact circular material of an excellent quality and it supports our sustainability strategy Fashion FWD 100 per cent,” says Camilla Skjønning Jørgensen, Sustainable Materials and Innovation Manager, BESTSELLER.
Renewcell’s Circular Business Manager Jenny Fredricsdotter agrees that this is an important collaboration as it demonstrates the commercial capability of Circulose and that recycling clothes finally works.
She says, “We rely on global brands like BESTSELLER to help us close the loop on fashion globally by spreading awareness to their customers and using their influence to shift the supply chain to circularity. At Renewcell, we want to change the whole fashion industry. An ambitious and complex mission but necessary as the environmental impact from fashion is only growing. BESTSELLER has realised this and is now incorporating that insight into their fundamental values. They are taking action with their Fashion FWD strategy with aggressive goals and responsible actions. We are proud to contribute to BESTSELLER’s ambitious work to become a more sustainable brand.”
Exclusive collections ready for Spring 2021
Recently, BESTSELLER launched its new innovation lab ‘Fashion FWD Lab’, which focuses on new low-impact circular materials and production technologies, as well as circular business models. As BESTSELLER’s experimental sustainability hub, Fashion FWD Lab acts – most of all – as a catalyst for collaborations consisting of pilot projects, workshops, case studies and more to accelerate sustainable change.
For this collaboration, BESTSELLER brands Vero Moda, Object and Selected have been onboard early in the process to explore and test the capabilities of Circulose, and they have all approved the fabric’s quality.
“These materials are in exceptionally high demand, which is why we’re very pleased that we were able to secure fibres from the second batch of Circulose ever produced. And due to the high support and professional effort from our brands included in this process, we have been able to reach an end-product of excellent quality,” Camilla says.
The Circulose fibres have been spun into yarns and the fabric has just been finished, ready for production. An exclusive and limited edition of styles will be available in handpicked stores worldwide in Spring 2021.
Source: https://renewcell.com/
