We've discussed Patagonia's recycling fleece program and there has been plenty of buzz about recycling plastic bottles to produce fleece. Jimtex Yarn has come up with a way to recycle t-shirt cutting waste into ECO2cottonTM suitable for apparel and home product applications.
T-shirts are typically produced using virgin cotton yarn. They are generally knit in tubes. The machine then cuts the neck and armholes, leaving cutting waste. The t-shirt goes on to be constructed and sold. The cuttings hit the floor. Unbelievably, the cuttings can be 40% of the original tube. Many production houses send these cuttings to a landfill or incinerate them.
The first issue to address is the waste of virgin cotton. According to the WWF, cotton crops world wide are responsible for 25% of the insecticides released into the environment each year. Add the costs in energy, water and land and your t-shirt comes at a high environmental cost.
Recycling these clippings offers an eco friendly approach. The clippings are diverted from landfills, re-use processes do not cost as much in energy, water and land, and since the clippings come in various colors, the resulting yarn or fabrics do not require further dye.
Jimtex, in partnership with parent company Martex Fiber Southern Corporation, developed an innovative proprietary technology. Martex works in partnership with mills on and off-shore, developing systems for collecting, sorting and baling clippings. The mills then sell the clippings to Martex. Less waste and a return on waste for the mills sounds like a win-win situation for business and the environment.
Martex passes the regenerated cotton on to Jimtex. Jimtex blends color, fiber content and yarn quality to spin fiber into new yarns. A small percentage of acrylic or synthetic material is included in the spinning process to act as glue for the new yarn. As of 2007 Jimtex Yarns President, Harry Matusow reported finding a US based post-consumer recycled polyester company. This partnership allows Jimtex to produce 100% recycled yarn.
Jimtex has also developed a very successful yarn blending technique that leads to limitless colors. Mixing fiber like paint, Jimtex may combine dark blue, purple and black to create a beautiful heathered yarn. Careful records are kept and Jimtex offers "recipes" for over 70 colors. The new yarns are sold back to the mills to be made into new products.
Customers are thrilled, receiving environmentally responsible yarns in beautiful, unique colors offered at a lower cost than virgin yarn. The environmental advantages and unique color process of ECO2cottonTM entices the high end t-shirt market. Jimtex proves that careful analysis of the production process can lead to innovations in earth friendly practices.
Till next week - Restore, Refresh, Recycle, Renew
Information for this article was taken from, "Using What Others Toss Out," by Harry Matusow, President, Jimtex Yarns and Stefanie Zeldin, Corporate Marketing and Brand Manager, ECO2cottonTM in Future Fashion White Papers,2007.
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9 comments:
I am really surprised that the recycling process of these t-shirts is so easy. I think it is a great idea and the products that are made from it would be very popular when sold. The only problem I see is that many companies are so busy with production and the cut floor that I am not sure they would take the time to box it up and send it away. I am sure that several companies would be thrilled that this process is offered but others would not care. For example, the place I did my co-op with has on average 150 large trash bags of scrap fabric every day during high production seasons. They just take them out back and throw them in the dumpster. I feel like in order to send all of this fabric out they would have to hire extra staff. Now I know that these dance fabrics could probably not be remade by this company due to the finishes, but I still don’t think they would do it. I am not sure if they would use their recycled practices in advertisements. I really am not sure where it would go. However I can see specific dance companies who dance for organic and green causes loving the ideas and buying from them. However I do not know if they have any clients that fit that description. It is a concept that puts companies on the fence. There are some companies that would do it because they respect the environment and then there are other companies that would do it just for publicity. Plus I feel it would make a garment worth more money to the consumer so they could bump up the price. For these people it would be a win win situation.
I think that it is great to reuse and recycle left over material. More good would come out of that material (whether it’s making a new shirt or using it for other purposes) than it would in a landfill or dumpster somewhere. It makes me think of that saying, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” I think this is very true. Why else would so many people (and yes, those who can afford brand new clothes) shop at thrift stores and consignment shops? I think it is to obtain that one-of-a-kind piece that nobody else has. So why not relay this concept to excess material as Jimtex Yarn has? The consumer who buys this type of product would most likely be prepared to pay more because it is eco-friendly. Many companies may not have the means to do so (the time, money, or manpower) but I think every little bit helps. I believe all companies should start with something in order to preserve the environment in which we live. It would only benefit the company by appealing to the eco-conscious consumer along with their original targeted client.
The concept of recycling fabric is something that I believe is vital for our industry to adopt when possible. I had no idea how much cotton was wasted in the cutting process. Forty percent is an astronomical number. Not only do I think that we should start recycling the leftover pieces, I think we need to try to be more efficient with our fabric so not to waste as much. Although other attempts to help the environment have good intentions, they often harm the environment in other ways. Recycling the fabric is a way to help without putting out any extra pollution. The amount of pollution this industry puts out is very unsettling and I hope that this trend in recycling scraps catches on.
Until reading this blog I was aware of the vast amount of waste that results from the production of just a simple t-shirt. I know the fashion industry has a huge environmental footprint, but it really amazing me that nearly 40% of material is wasted in just the production of a t-shirt. It makes me wonder about all of the other material and energy that is used for other apparel items as well. Since the green movement has become so widespread and the fashion industry is known for it cruelty on the environment, I think it’s really important that companies like Jimtex find new ways to recycle and reuse byproducts and waste. I also feel like recycling an item such as a t-shirt, which we own hundreds of in a lifetime is definitely more practical and ethical. We often time wear a t-shirt for a few weeks then throw it away which double the amount of waste anyway. It’s also great that there is little waste and chemical processes or dying in order to reuse the cotton fibers, plus it comes at a cheaper cost than virgin cotton. I think this should be seen as a huge advantage to companies looking for eco-friendly practices. Hopefully as technology and knowledge increases over time, more companies will use recycling techniques such as Jimtex.
It is surprising that 40% of cotton material from t-shirts is wasted. I have seen some aspects of production during my co-op and from seeing the scraps leftover from there, I agree that recycling and reusing the fabric is ideal. It seems like the process is fairly simple yet, I wonder how many companies would be willing to do this and how long it would take to get even some of them to do it. I would love to see the end result of this process looks like. I agree with Amanda that people would be willing to buy the product not just because of the "green" craze going on now but for the future as well. With the increasing amount of press covering eco-friendly ideas for the fashion industry, including your blog and others like it,perhaps it won't take companies too long to realize that even this seemingly small adjustment can help determine our future.
It seems that everyone is surprised by the high amount of waste - which they should be, 40% is a high number. Its surprising to me that it took this long to get someone, like Jimtex, to get the ball rolling on finding a better way of recycling waste. If everyone did this, it would make a tremendous impact on having less waste be put into the environment. This goes back to the previous entry on Fast Fashion; think about all the waste coming from these companies and the amount of times you wear an H&M shirt before you throw it out. I also think it's great that the shirts end up costing less. People don't buy organic sometimes because of the higher price. This will let the consumer feel like they can help and feel good about it because they wouldn't be emptying out their wallets.
It's awesome that companies are finally starting to become eco-friendly. I would think that more companies would have started doing something like this. It's such a waste to just throw out the un-used pieces of a t-shirt. The cost of a t-shirt made this way I think would be worth the price considering the positive effects it has for the environment. I think every company should look into recycling and re-using parts of garments that would usually just be thrown in a dumpster or an incinerator. This seems like it's going to be a popular way of making clothes especially once more people start hearing about it.
This sounds like an excellent alternative for garment scraps, reducing waste and producing a marketable good. It reminds me of other efforts like Urban Renewal and Stewart+Brown's factory surplus products. Stewart+Brown purchase discarded fabrics from textile mills that are too small for most companies to use. They produce limited edition products with the limited supplies. For example, right now they have a line of bags made out of this material. Although it is not exactly the same as Jimtex's effort, it is comforting to know that companies are taking action from different scopes of the fashion production cycle.
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