Sustainability is all about the story, especially within the textile industry.
In fact, the journey of a fabric from its starting point as a fiber is often more important than the finished look and feel of the material.
Unfortunately, it is easy to falsify sustainability claims and businesses have been known to create a narrative that markets them and their products as environmentally-friendly when, the truth is, they are not. This practice is known as greenwashing and is becoming increasingly common.
Thankfully, a new recycled fiber that contains innovative technology aims to eradicate this issue within the world of sustainability.
Transforming Waste, Preserving Resources
CYCLO® recycled fibers are created using closed-loop production to convert pre-consumer textile waste back into cotton fibers.
The industrial waste used in this process comes from the cuttings scraps at garment manufacturers which is what makes CYCLO® unlike other recycled fabrics that typically use post-consumer waste.
The waste gets collected and sorted ready to undergo the mechanical recycling process. This creates a high-quality, sustainable fibre that is then blended with recycled polyester and spun into a durable, coloured yarn that can be woven into a wide range of materials, including our CYCLO® recycled bags.
What makes CYCLO® recycled fibers sustainable?
The biggest benefit of CYCLO® is that it makes use of waste material that would have otherwise ended up in a landfill.
Every week, the average garment factory discards about 60,000 pounds of perfectly usable fabric. CYCLO® takes this pre-consumer waste and puts it to good use which saves land space and reduces CO2 emissions caused by materials that are left to decompose in landfills.
The production process that is used to convert this waste into a new material doesn’t use any water, dyes or chemicals and it produces 96.3% less CO2 than virgin fibres.
It also preserves resources by keeping materials in circulation for longer contributing to a circular economy. This model is highly eco-friendly which means that so is any material that is part of it.
Whatsmore, all of the sustainability claims attached to CYCLO® can be supported through the tracer technology that is embedded into the fibers.
What is tracer technology?
Tracer technology is an innovation that aims to eradicate greenwashing and provide consumers with full transparency about the eco-credentials of the material used to make their product.
CYCLO® recycled fibers uses Aware™ tracer particles which are added to the fiber before it is spun into yarn. This is used to created a digital version of the fiber known as the ‘digital twin’. It is registered in a secure blockchain and includes properties such as colour, composition, weight and the original certification.
In other words, every product made from CYCLO® recycled fibers has received a unique fingerprint which is identified through the QR code found on the tag attached to the final garment.
By scanning this code, you are able to verify that the fabric is genuine and the journey has been green.
Step up your sustainability
Whether you are a business that is just starting out on your sustainability journey or one that has been working on your eco-credentials for a while, CYCLO® recycled fibers are an easy and honest way to step things up.
Soon this environmentally-friendly and ethically-made material is going to be a gamechanger in the world of sustainability, but why wait until it is the standard. Get ahead of your competitors and show the world that you take your corporate social responsibility seriously by investing in promotional and retail products made from CYCLO® recycled fibers.