Professional guide

Waste in the production phase

The material flow from the clothes chains which ends at the rubbish heap is probably less compared to the flow from consumers, but this still constitutes a problem for the environment.

There is a lot of potential in waste. Pre-consumer waste is generally what ends up on the factory floor during cutting and assembling, and a creative designer can find many uses for this material, along with being up to par on how to maximize the actual textiles before the actual cutting takes place.There are two types of textile waste in production, besides the chemicals and waste-water: cut-offs and finished products that are either surplus goods or faulty products that cannot be sold to the consumer. The two different types of waste constitute two different problems and subsequently need to be addressed in different ways.

To make a t-shirt, virgin cotton yarn is typically knit into a tube. Then, a machine cuts away shapes to free the sleeves and neckline. The body of the shirt continues to be constructed while the cuttings, which can amount to 40% of the total fabric, fall to the floor. The cuttings are swept up, thrown into bags and many times, especially in emerging economies, taken to landfills and incinerated. Recycled textiles from pre consumer waste offers numerous environmental advantages. It directs waste away from landfills and incinerators. It does not require the extensive use of natural resources such as water and land that even organic cotton requires.

Recycled textiles from pre consumer waste offers numerous environmental advantages

It does not need to be soaked in synthetic dyes (since they already have been), the colours generated are based on the colours of the waste clippings. After acquiring regenerated cotton, one can blend colour, fibre content and yarn quality to spin the fibre into new yarn. A small percentage of synthetic material, such as acrylic or polyester, is added to the spinning, this acts as glue. Using post-consumer recycled polyester – one actually produces 100% recycled yarn. By blending pre-dyed thread one can achieve an almost limitless range of colours, based on a process comparable to mixing paint.

If European authorities encouraged recycling and ensured that the whole business around Second Hand was similarily given better conditions, one could save up to 25 % of Europe's entire fibre consumation of 6,23 million tonnes (2003 numbers)..

One could demand, and authorities will probably do this within a short timespan, demand that fashion brands and clothing chains accept everything they sell in return. And maybe all those items that were faulty from the factory could be part of these "bargain bins" if the object would be to sell off second hand and faulty items cheaper. Or even better: One could actually have a system to upscale faulty and used products. There is currently research going on that addresses the smell-issue, and other aspects of giving "old clothes" status as vintage quicker than is possible today is part of this complex.

One could actually have a system to upscale faulty and used products

Another solution is export. The developing economies have imported our waste for a long time; they may receive our old clothes as charity or as a business venture - the latter seems to be the better, since it does not undermine the local economies. But transport and the local ability to dispose the clothing when they reach end-of-life is an important part of the consideration. We may, in the West, have better systems of disposal which in the long run make local disposal more environmentally sound.

The material cut-offs are a lot easier to handle, since the factory could easily sort the same colour fibres and put them back in to production. The Norwegian designer-duo Arne & Carlos had a jeans collection which was made of recycled organic denim collected in this way. Another way scraps can be reused is making them in to accessories that match the clothing.