Iinouiio is the only company in the UK that can recycle textiles. It was bought last year by Mirfield’s global textile firm Camira. Because of this, a new circular, high-end wool fabric was created. It will be revealed during Wool Month in October 2023.
Campaign for wool, which was started by His Majesty King Charles III in 2010 when he was HRH The Prince of Wales, Eco-Luxe, and Woven in the Bone, a micro mill in Scotland, worked with the company to make a high-end herringbone cloth that will be shown at Holland and Sherry on London’s Savile Row.
Dr John Parkinson, the founder of iinouiio, said, “It’s been an enjoyable project to work on, and we’re thrilled that it will come to life during Wool Month. That’s when we show and promote responsible textile manufacturing, intending to give old textiles a new lease on life.”
“Reusing wool is not a new idea. About 200 years ago, Benjamin Law, a mill owner, turned old clothes into new clothes. This was the first circular economy in textiles, and it is known as “shoddy” production. Textile recycling has taken over my life, and we’re determined to keep and build on the impressive history of this skill and the legacy of my family’s “shoddy” business.
The tailors’ waste was recycled and mixed with iinouiio’s high-tech textile reprocessing equipment to make the Savile Row cloth. The waste was then spun into yarn at Camira’s factory in Hudders field and sewn in The Bone. At the launch, tailors on Savile Row will show off clothes, accessories, and home goods made from the new recycled wool cloth.
Su Thomas, founder of Eco-Luxe, said, “The tailoring houses on Savile Row have always tried to use sustainable methods in their work. Recycling, reusing, and fixing things have always been important to them.”
“Eco-Luxe goes one step further by working with companies on Savile Row to make custom clothes, accessories, and textiles out of recycled wool cloth made of nothing but wool scraps.” Iinouiio and Camira have been great working with us on creating a closed-loop material that we can’t wait to see come out during Wool Month.
The project starts zero-waste tailoring and is a step forward for the fashion industry. It also shows that tailors know how important it is to reduce the amount of cloth waste in landfills.
Peter Ackroyd, COO of The Campaign for Wool, said, “The Campaign for Wool is delighted to see the development of a scheme to make sure that tailors on the Row spare no effort to make sure that almost no waste occurs in the already environmentally friendly process of making bespoke clothing.”
“Seeing things that would normally be thrown away given new life is encouraging.” Unlike most fibres, wool breaks down naturally at the end of its life and, if buried, adds to the soil’s fertility.
