A new circular fashion initiative has been established in the hopes of reducing garment waste by demonstrating the feasibility of textile-to-textile recycling.
So far, Decathlon, Petit Bateau, Bel & Bo, HNST, and Xandres have joined the EU-funded SCIRT project, as have technical partners and research institutes. They want to create six distinct types of clothes, including formal and casual wear, athletics, underwear, and uniforms, utilising post-consumer recycled fibres.
The goal of SCIRT is to show the possibility of a comprehensive textile-to-textile recycling system for discarded clothes, with an emphasis on natural and synthetic fibres, as well as fibre mixes.
SCIRT has 18 partners from five countries and is coordinated by VITO, an independent Flemish research organisation in the cleantech and sustainable development sectors.
It aims to provide a closed-loop recycling solution for post-consumer textiles, encourage conscientious design and production methods, open up new economic options within textile value chains, and promote public awareness of textile consumption’s consequences.
SCIRT will also work to promote policy initiatives and instruments that will help the transition to circularity go more smoothly. Working on a framework for an extended producer responsibility (EPR) system as well as a “real cost model” to quantify circularity and enhance transparency are two examples.
To assist consumers understand their behaviour surrounding the purchase, use, and disposal of textiles, ‘Citizen Labs’ will be established, which will involve consumers in several European locations as well as a larger online interaction platform.
It comprises the research institutes VITO, CETI, and Prospex Institute, as well as the universities BOKU, TU Wien, and ESTIA, as well as industry participants Altex, AVS Spinning, and Valvan.
