Upcycling Textiles: The Sustainable Way Ahead

Mr. Avinash Mayekar MD Suvin Expo LLP

We Indians are renowned for our multipurpose efficiency. It's an imprint embossed for decades in our DNA to repurpose non-functional and non-valuable things and mould them into a new form. In the case of upcycling in textiles, our standard household or even a mid-scale manufacturing hub has the creative mind to generate fashionable upcycled products. We have been making the most of the leftover fabrics or cut pieces in manufacturing and repurposing them into artistic and elegant pieces. Many rugs and quilts are designed and stitched from such pieces, giving them a nostalgic vibe and meaning to the fabric pieces that were no longer of use. Some old sarees, dress materials and woollen wear are all stitched together to form a standard household quilt. These are all the standard practices today, and have been commercialised into profitable businesses by many small-scale manufacturers. They collect the materials from user and deliver the end product, 'Quilt', from their waste/ unused garments. Also, sturdy rugs, as a byproduct of the materials collected, are another upcycling example. So upcycling is not a new concept for India, but a fancy term that goes beyond repurposing into a sustainable way of life, ensuring circularity in the textile value chain. However, today, with technology advancements, it is time to further boost the upcycling approach. It can be considered a very good opportunity to use technical textiles technology like needle punch or spunlace to develop highly functional and technical textiles products using upcycled products. Despite all our best practices of reusing, repurposing and upcycling into conventional textiles, there are limitations in the scope of utilising 100% of waste or unused fabric cut pieces.  We have successfully upcycled them for technical textiles use. Like when it comes to comber waste, it is already being reutilised and upcycled. Comber noil is better known as a raw material for open-end yarn for spinning counts up to 30s Ne with better fibre length than as a spinning waste. Also, nowadays it is extensively used for making bleached cotton, which is further used in applications like spunlace (hydro entanglement) for medical and hygiene applications. It is being said that Comber Noil is much cleaner & gives better results when used in end applications of hygiene or for medical purposes.  Whereas technical textiles like geotextiles, medical textiles, or home textiles are made by cutting portions from a very large width of the material, leaving a lot of unused cuts of functional textiles. These remainders persist even when we use one less technology for converting the fibre into yarns. There is a huge scope to encash For example, in medical textiles, products like cotton pads are produced by cutting pieces from a very large sheet. If the end shape is a square pad, then the waste is minimal. But when it is a round pad, most commonly used for the D makeup purpose, then there is a lot of fabric, unused after cutting with maximum efficiency and an engineered design. This is an excellent area for upcycling.  We can produce a lot of items from the remainder sheet, like cotton balls, etc. In case of needle punch cut pieces as well, the fabric felt is very strong, and that's why we can think of using it as a cardboard for the headboards/padding in tough cushions, what you call it. We can also use this uncut tough needlepunch left out cuttings in wall panels production, or directly use it as a decorative wall piece.    Similarly, in the case of spunlace technology, the end output is in the form of rolls embossed on the fabric felt. And, so we can get a lot of good designs out of these left-out felts and upcycle them into insulation materials with self-designed for roof substrates and layering in a false ceiling. The other way to use very small or non-aesthetic conventional fabric in the technical textiles and create an upcycle product is by using these cut-outs in the needlepunch felt being used in Geotech products designed for roads to have high sturdiness. With the growing infrastructure needs and challenges, the use of geotextiles will be the way ahead. And such highly efficient upcycled geotextiles from waste components will not only be competitive but also cater to the much-needed sustainable lifestyle. The heat insulation for more cooling through roof insulation, the stuffing of home textiles with cutout fabrics, pillow fills from unspun yarn waste, and spillage are all excellent examples of upcycling.  The biggest challenge in upcycling is the collection of the waste and then recycling it into a proper form. In fact, the waste recycling concept itself is a big challenge, not only because it is difficult to get back the right type of material that is to be used for recycling, but also because there are many variables like different fibres, colours, chemicals, staple lengths, deniers, and physical and chemical properties. So, to match our application needs with such variable waste is a major challenge. Segregation of colours is another challenge.

Conclusion

Ideas are infinite when it comes to upcycling. The end technology is also ready, but the challenge remains of collection, segregation and advancements and acceptance of the middle technology of waste recycling. Although today many products can be upcycled in fabric form without first using recycling technology, there is a need for using the right conversion lines to develop the by-product from the uncut pieces of spunlace fabric or needlepunched felt.