Sustainable Design: Recycled Yarn Technology

Yes, the quality of furnishing fabrics containing recycled content has the exact same quality, look, and handle of designs composed of virgin yarn. Essentially, the only part of the manufacturing process that differs is recycled yarn is created from regenerated liquid polymer or pulverized discarded fibre that’s been sorted by colour/composition. The vital stage of the fibre being spun, strengthened, and stretched through a repeated process is aligned across virgin and recycled yarns. Additionally, this means that the durability of the textiles are not compromised, and you can still rely on our high performance brands such as FibreGuard and FibreGuard Pro to deliver the same promise of superior longevity. 

Yes, all types of finishes, textures and lusters can still be achieved with fabrics that are composed of recycled yarns. It’s not solely the yarn or composition that determines the overall look and handle of a fabric, but the weave structure and final finish such as a heated treatments to achieve a sheen, ‘calendaring’ to create a smooth, compressed surface, or ‘stonewash’ finish to create softness, flexibility, and a worn look.   

Yes, there are impacts to colour when recycled yarn is created. For example, when creating recycled polyester, the inherent colour of the PET plastics used can affect the final hue of the yarn produced. During the recycling process manufacturers try to eliminate this intervention as much as possible by isolating white, blue, and clear discarded plastics. These are the most valuable plastics, as they can be turned into white fabric, the most versatile textile for dyeing and achieving a desired vibrancy. A similar process is also applied to recycled fabrics from the fashion industry. These textiles are sorted into similar colour piles before shredding, so final yarn produced from each grouping has a shade consistency. In fact, some Mills have specialised artisans that mix various recycled coloured fibres to create unique shades that are chemical and dye-free.   

Recycled polyester is constructed from PET plastics that are collected from landfill or the sea. These discarded plastics are washed in a revolving cylinder called a Tromel to remove labels, debris and then shredded into tiny chips. The chips are then sorted into similar colours via an infrared ray and spectrum camera. These colour sensors recognise the various plastic shades and sort them into piles. These chips are dried with any residual contaminants extracted, and then move through a heated chamber to be melted into liquid polymer. As the polymer moves to the final stages of the chamber, it is pushed through a shower head like device to create fine strands, (endless filament). This filament goes through a process of being funneled and wound to strengthen the fibre, and then heated and stretched for the final stage. This refined fibre is wound onto a spool and distributed to Mills to be dyed and woven into fabric.

Compared to virgin yarns, manufacturing recycled yarns can conserve resources such as water, fabric dye materials and petroleum extraction (crude oil). The yarn creation process is essentially given a head start, resulting in energy conservation by minimised manufacturing processes. 

Recycled polyester constructed from descarded PET plastics requires approximately 59% less energy to produce and reduces CO2 emissions by approximately 32%.

Cotton is one of the most energy consuming fibres requiring a large amount of water, energy, and labor. Recycled cotton, however, demands fewer resources to manufacture by removing the plant cultivation process, and can save approximately 765 cubic meters of water per tonne when produced. 

Sustainable textile design is still evolving, and will continue to do so for many years. We still have a long journey ahead to recycle more than we are consuming globally, but the amount of initiatives and interest across this industry is growing. A discussion to be continued.