In November 2021, a research article was published on the implementation of a value-based reuse methodology and circular economy model in the fashion industry. In the latest issue of Fashion and Textile, Reet Aus, Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Circular Design Research Unit at the Sustainable Design and Materials Laboratory of the EKA, summarises the results of a five-year practice-based study on value-based reuse in mass production.
The article analyses the generation of fabric residues from production and describes the effectiveness of value-based reuse design. The results of the study show that, depending on the size of the factory, the amount of fabric and textile waste generated in garment production is between 25-40% of the total amount of fabric used. Of this, 50% can be recycled into new garments, and for certain types of waste, this can be as high as 80%.
According to the results of the study, value-added recycling is the best solution for the recovery of industrial textile waste. In this way, the maximum added value can be obtained. Valuable recovery of pre-consumer waste makes it possible to work with similar and predictable material flows to produce similar garments in large quantities. Textile waste and surplus can be recycled back into production and reused for new garments in-house, increasing the circular economy within the sector.
The article Designing for circular fashion: integrating upcycling into conventional garment manufacturing processes is co-authored by Harri Moora, Markus Vihma, Reimo Unt, Marko Kiisa and Sneha Kapur.
The article can be read free of charge here.
Fashion and Textile magazine promotes knowledge and seeks new perspectives in the fashion and textile industry. The journal is published by the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles, a non-profit academic organization established to provide professional input to research and industry development.