Read the full story from the University of Georgia.
New dyeing technology is sustainable, uses less water and has better color payoff.
Category: Textiles
Wrangler launches denim featuring planet-friendly fiber made from textile waste
Read the company press release.
Wrangler®, a global icon in jeanswear and casual apparel, today announced that it has teamed up with Infinited Fiber Company to incorporate Infinna™ – regenerated, recyclable fibers– into its global denim range for its Fall 2021 collection, the brand’s most sustainable denim yet. Combined with industry-leading innovations including Indigood™, foam-dye technology that lowers wastewater by over 99%, and an e-flow finishing process, this collection represents Wrangler’s next steps in circularity, water reduction and reduced environmental impact.
Champion unveils sustainable line with The Renewal Workshop
Read the full story at Fashion United.
Athleticwear brand Champion has unveiled a new sustainable line with The Renewal Workshop, which turns discarded clothing and textiles into renewed apparel.
Lululemon plans to make leggings from plants
Read the full story at Fast Company.
But they still won’t be biodegradable, pointing to the complexities of developing products that are truly gentle on the environment.
How Crystal International uses denim as a force for good
Read the full story in Sourcing Journal.
With sustainability rapidly evolving from an option to a requirement, the denim industry is not only looking to lessen its negative environmental impact, but also create a positive one in its place.
Having recently attained recognition from the WWF-HK’s Low Carbon Manufacturing Program for its intimates factory, Hong Kong-based apparel manufacturer Crystal International is showing that its commitment to carbon reduction is just one part of a multi-pronged approach to using business as a force for good. Its strategy for social and environmental improvement earned the company a spot on the SDG2000, a list of the most influential 2,000 companies for a sustainable future.
LanzaTech, lululemon partner to create first fabric made from recycled carbon emissions
Read the full story at Sustainable Brands.
The carbon-capture experts and the high-end yoga pants purveyor have developed a waste-gas-based polyester with the same appearance, properties and functionality of virgin polyester — a lower-carbon potential game-changer for the apparel industry.
This sweater is made from old bulletproof vests and firefighting gear
Read the full story at Fast Company.
The ultra-tough materials used in firefighting gear and bulletproof vests are very helpful for stopping flames or bullets, but those same properties make them difficult to recycle, so they usually end up in landfills. But Vollebak, a company that makes innovative clothing—like the world’s first graphene jacket—started thinking about how to use the trash as its newest material, for a garment it’s calling the Garbage Sweater.
Mosquito-resistant clothing prevents bites in trials
Read the full story from North Carolina State University.
North Carolina State University researchers have created insecticide-free, mosquito-resistant clothing using textile materials they confirmed to be bite-proof in experiments with live mosquitoes. They developed the materials using a computational model of their own design, which describes the biting behavior of Aedes aegypti, the mosquito that carries viruses that cause human diseases like Zika, Dengue fever and yellow fever.
Ultimately, the researchers reported in the journal Insects that they were able to prevent 100 percent of bites when a volunteer wore their clothing – a base layer undergarment and a combat shirt initially designed for the military – in a cage with 200 live, disease-free mosquitoes. Vector Textiles, an NC State startup company, has licensed the related patent rights and intends to make clothing for commercial sale in the United States.
Your sneakers are polluting the planet. Adidas and Allbirds unveil an ultra-green alternative
Read the full story at Fast Company.
In 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, the global sneaker house Adidas and the sustainable, direct-to-consumer shoe brand Allbirds announced they were teaming up to make the most sustainable sneaker ever. Today, we get a look at that shoe for the first time.
It’s called the Futurecraft.Footprint. And while an MIT study from 2013 found the average sneaker had a 30-pound CO2 footprint—about the same as eating about 3.5 Big Macs—the Futurecraft.Footprint comes in at under 3 kilograms of CO2 per pair. It’s 2.94 kilograms to be exact—a number hand written on every shoe.
Your clothes spew microfibers before they’re even clothes
Read the full story in Wired.
A new report from the Nature Conservancy picks apart the textile supply chain—from the manufacturer who makes synthetic yarn from little pellets of plastic, to the factory that stitches together the clothes—to estimate that this pre-consumer process releases 265 million pounds of microfibers each year.
