91. The Future of Recycled Fashion
In this conversation:
What could the future of fashion look like if we learned to recycle and repurpose all material already created? That is what we'll get into in this episode with two innovators in the field -- Renewcell and Circ. Considering only 1% of textiles get recycled into new clothing today, this is a field we should give a lot more attention and focus on!
Harald Cavalli-Björkman - Renewcell
Harald Cavalli-Bjorkman is the Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Investor Relations at Renewcell, a sustainable tech company from Sweden that patented a process to efficiently create pulp made from 100 percent recycled cotton clothing, called Circulose®
While viscose made from a mixture of recycled wood and virgin fibers exists, a purely recycled viscose garment is revolutionary! Renewcell aim to make it the industry standard.
Fast Company named Renewcell one of the World’s Most Innovative Companies in 2021. Circulose® was also included on TIME Magazine’s list of the 100 Best Inventions 2020. By Renewcell’s estimate, hundreds of millions of garments will be saved from landfills and incineration yearly to create Circulose®. That is one promising change.
Website: www.renewcell.com
CFDA Article: Meet Circulose - The New Fiber Challenging Recycled Textiles
Luke Henning - Circ:
Circ's backstory is pretty wild: their original purpose was to extract sugars and oil from specialty non-smoking tobacco for biofuels—but they've innovated beyond biofuels to produce recycled textiles for the fashion industry. And by innovated, I mean they truly stumbled upon a sustainable fashion application.
Circ's big differentiator is that they're the only brand recycling and recovering both polyester and cotton from fabrics in any ratio. While many companies say they're upcycling, most technologies waste one fiber in order to recycle another. Circ recovers both polyester monomers — the basic building blocks of nearly everything we use — and man-made cellulosic fibers (lyocell, modal, viscose, cupro).
So, while Circ is currently focused on the fashion industry, it can also be used to replace the oil-derived monomers sold by petroleum companies to produce PET bottles, packaging, toys...you name it! In addition to an overview of Circ's technology.
CFO of Circ, Luke Henning has an extensive background spanning multiple industries, from banking to green chemistry, which allows him to bring an interesting lens to the textile industry.
Website: www.circ.earth
