I’ve just come back from Performance Days in Munich. After a few seasons ‘off’ attending the show in person I decided it was time to go and see/touch/feel some fabrics, listen to talks and get a renewed ‘in real life’ sense for the way the industry is evolving.
I was recently asked by a friend for recommendations on buying a ‘sustainable’ waterproof jacket.This year's show theme was "Beyond Bottles; the Future of Polyester" so I was pretty interested to get the progress update around how we create performance fabrics without using virgin fossil based ingredients and without just turning bottles into textiles.
The show was full of talk about textile to textile recycling, There were a number of fabrics on show that were ‘made from textile waste’ however on further investigation it seems very few if any were commercially available - with most recycled polyesters still being produced from PET bottles. The problem it seems is partly one of price, but also due to lack of accessible feedstock.
The technology to recycle textiles into textiles exists and is proven to work, whether that be by a mechanical or chemical process (dependent on fibre type) but you can’t recycle without feedstock. The feedstock exists; There are literally tons of unwearable textiles in existence - but the infrastructure to collect and sort these textiles and get them into recycling loops is not yet there.
The Accelerating Circularity team did a great job of advocating for the need for localised collecting and sorting systems, to feed into localised recycling facilities. Instead of shipping containers of textiles around the world to be sorted/processed/landfilled/incinerated we could be reprocessing textiles back into raw materials and then sending that to the relevant places to be turned back into yarn/fabric/garments.
Blended fibres are a current mainstay of technical clothing, with different fibres being mixed to give optimum performance and hand-feel. But blends are also problematic for recycling.
In the innovation area I was encouraged by Climatex’s DUALCYCLE circular technology. This innovation allows a textile to be created from more than one fibre type, in such a way that they can be separated at end of life. Two fibres ( or more) can be combined and are essentially held together by a third which can also be dissolved via a particular process allowing the two fibres to be separated and then directed into their own appropriate recycling streams. Currently focussed for the upholstery and workwear sector, there's potential for other materials for the sports/outdoor industry to be developed.
Alongside recycling there was continued work around alternatives to fossil based synthetic fabrics with an increasing number of ‘biobased’ materials on show. As always it's important to go under the surface of these more sustainable sounding terms and I was interested to find out that of the 2 ingredients needed to create these PET fabrics only one (the MEG) can currently be replaced with non fossil based alternatives. The other ingredient (PTA) is still fossil derived.
Fibre Fragments continue to be (for both synthetics and natural fibres) but some progress is being made to help combat this problem within synthetics. CiCLO® were showcasing their textile ingredient that can be added to polyester and nylon (both virgin or recycled). Thoroughly blended with the base polymer the additive allows naturally occurring microorganisms to break down and digest the fiber. This innovation is not about creating biodegradable clothing but to combat the issue of fiber fragments that would otherwise persist in the environment forever.
So, in terms of the future of polyester it seems:
Textile to textile recycling is still in its infancy and we need to build collecting and sorting infrastructure to allow it to scale successfully.
There is still much work to do in the bio-based materials field, to create appropriate alternatives that require no fossil based ingredients at all.
Research continues into fibre fragmentation and innovations are emerging to help combat the problem.
All of these points really emphasised for me the importance of the role designers play in the shift to a more closed loop system. Before something gets anywhere near the point of recycling it needs to have a long and useful life. Features, fit, durability, repairability alongside aesthetics all contribute to the longevity of life any garment can have.
As designers/product creators it's important we are realistic about what performance qualities we really need in our kit and that is about features not just fabrics. We can and should be asking (demanding) to use the right materials for the job, to create purposeful functional clothing that is not over engineered for the sake of a marketing story. Synthetics have been a mainstay in the sports and outdoor sector for many years, and when you look at the technical attributes its easy to see why. But I feel like we (should) have moved on from the days where we chase the highest waterproof/breathability rating on the lightest shell fabric, or the fastest drying shirt material - with little regard for the realistic end use.
Whilst on the Woolmark Company stand Insaw a woven wool materials with lovely look and handfeel it was constructed in such a way as to be highly water repellent whilst still breathable demonstrating that we can achieve very effective weather protection using natural fibres. Natural fibres do not automatically mean no negative impact of course; but i think further exploration of natural fibres within performance fabrics is worth it! When we are selecting fabrics for clothing, we should be driven by purpose and appropriate function over high performance for high performance sake.
There were plenty of other interesting developments at Performance days but my main two takeaways were
1. We need to genuinely collaborate to make progress; we need to work across disciplines and join the dots to ensure we can genuinely move to a more circular system.
2. We also need to refocus on designing for genuine purpose and function. We don’t need huge quantities of super high performance clothing But we do need durable clothing, with appropriate levels of performance, designed to be easily repairable and used and used and used before ultimately being (hopefully) recycled.
As for my friend and her hunt for a new waterproof; I reported back to her that jackets made from bottles aren't automatically ‘sustainable’ but that she was unlikely to find a commercially available waterproof in her budget that wasn’t made from this kind of recycled polyester. I suggested she focussed her search on finding the best fitting waterproof she could , whether it be made of recycled PET or not; she should find a jacket that was an appropriate length and fit to give maximum coverage from the rain in any of the activities she was likely to find herself wearing it for; To ensure that cuffs/hem/waste/hood adjusted to her comfort/taste and to accommodate layers worn underneath; but most importantly to buy it and look after it, and wear it for many many years to come!