Niinimäki Pocketversion
Natalia Moreira Kirsi
This white paper will help you: in the the activities carried out during the first half of the project
1 Follow us on social media to stay up to date with our publications: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/new-cotton-project/Twitter:https://twitter.com/project_cotton?lang=enWebsite:https://newcottonproject.eu/
become
U nderstand
SUMMARY
• how the ecosystem could assist the industry more sustainable
This summarised overview of the first half of the project aims at highlighting the importance of transforming the fashion industry into a sustainable, increasingly transparent, and socially just platform. The NEW COTTON PROJECT might not be the ultimate solution to all of the sector’s ailments, but it represents an initial step towards it as the project is an attempt to bring a technical experiment into a commercial scale experience through a partnership between 12 partners. This industrial collaboration and partnership places all of its members at the same level and collaboratively tries to find common grounds to reach the final
endeavour.September 2022
project • Anal yse
2 ABOUT
• Mee t the various partners engaged
Part of the third white paper of the series 1 , this short booklet is part of the NEW COTTON PROJECT knowledge exchange series which aims to expose the reader to the project, its milestones, and the overall experience of implementing a circular ecosystem within the reality of the European textile industry. Brief in nature, this is a gateway into the project for those interested in learning more about the process behind our collections. For more information you can read the first two publications: Circular Economy and Fashion: a NEW COTTON PROJECT white paper Circular business models in the textile industry: the second NEW COTTON PROJECT white paper
www.newcottonproject.eu3 NEW COTTON: Demonstration and launch of high performance, biodegradable, regenerated New Cotton textiles to consumer markets through an innovative, circular supply chain using Infinited Fiber technology. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No [101000559]. The NEW COTTON PROJECT consortium members CONTENTS Chapter 1: The NEW COTTON PROJECT 4 Circ ular Ecosystems 5 Project Stakeholders 10 Resource Mapping 12 Chapter 2: T he first half of the project 14 P ost-consumer textile streams 14 C ollection Design 15 Chapter 3: Final remarks and future plans 16 Refer ences 17LauriPiritadesign:Graphic
WASTETEXTILE
Figure 1: Final
FEEDSTOCKSUITABLEPRE-TREATMENTPROCESSRESOURCEEFFICIENCYANDSUS-TAINA-BILITYPRODUCTIONCONTINUOUS PRODUCTSAPPARELFABRICMINGPERFOR-HIGH post-consumer waste PROJECT CONCERNS PARTNERSKNOWLEDGESOLUTIONSGAPS
THE NEW PROJECTCOTTON
CHAPTER4 1:
During a three-year period, textile waste is to be collected, sorted, and regenerated into a new, man-made cellulosic fibre that looks and feels like cotton – a “new cotton” – using Infinited Fiber Company’s textile fibre regeneration technology. The fibre will be used to create different types of fabrics for clothing that will be designed, manufactured, and sold by global clothing brands adidas and H&M GROUP. As such, Figure 1 was developed to present the main concerns within the project, the main solutions already presented by the consortium members and the knowledge gaps which still require tackling. assessment of
the project’s objectives, knowledge gaps, concerns and current solutions RETAIL
2. T he stakeholder, their activities, products, and other resources were mapped (Figure 3).
The project’s ecosystem was built in three steps:
1. T he individual stakeholder was identified (Figure 2).
www.newcottonproject.eu5
Figure 2: Individual stakeholder
3. T hen finally, it was possible to understand what is truly needed and/or how to incorporate the ‘outputs’ (previously seen as waste) back onto the system, thus creating a circular ecosystem (Figure 4).
According to Aarikka-Stenroos et al. [1] the concept of ecosystem is well suited to describe systemic change within circular economy, proposing the following definition: “Circular ecosystems are communities of hierarchically independent, yet interdependent heterogeneous set of actors who collectively generate a sustainable ecosystem outcome” [1, p. 261]. In the NEW COTTON PROJECT, twelve pioneering players are coming together to break new ground by demonstrating a circular ecosystem for commercial garment production using postconsumer garments as their “raw” material.
Fabric P roduction
1.1 CIRCULAR ECOSYSTEMS
6 Figure 3: Example of the overview of an initial system Fo od Organi c Matter Blo od Gas E m issions Pest i cides O i ls LIVESTOCKFOSSILAGRI-CULTURE Residu al Fibres Raw M aterialsYa rn Fab rics H e at Finishin g Ma • Plastic man-made • Non-plastic man-made • Cellulose-based • Protein-based•Woven•Knitted•Non-woven Fini s h Yarn P r oduction Fabric P roduction
www.newcottonproject.eu7 atterialses P r ints Ass e mbly Col o urs Revers e Cycle Ser vices Retail & Wholesale Us age Pos t -use NewProdu c tion Methods !Specialis e d Labour Haberd a shery Technic al Textiles Acce s sories Home - Ware Gar ments Untreate d Sewage Metal Paper Plastic Discarte d Textiles FLOWTRADITIONALOUTPUTPRODUCT
8 Figure 4: Example of a simplified ecosystem highlighting the relationship between direct and indirect stakeholders Fo od Organi c Matter Blo od Gas E m issions Pest i cides O i ls Residu al Fibres Raw M aterialsYa rn Fab rics H e at • Plastic man-made • Non-plastic man-made • Cellulose-based • Protein-based•Woven•Knitted•Non-woven Fini s hesMetal Yarn P r oduction Fabric P roductionLIVESTOCKFOSSILAGRI-CULTURE Untreate d Sewage En e rgy Finishin g Materials
www.newcottonproject.eu9 Revers e Cycle Retail & Wholesale Us age Pos t -use NewProdu c tion Methods !Specialis e d Labour Haberd a shery Technic al Textiles Acce s sories Gar ments OUTPUTPRODUCT Col o urs P r ints ECOSYSTEM PlasticPaper Discarte d Textiles Circula r design End o f life Ser vices Policies & Legislation Ass e mbly Home - Ware
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1 .2 P ROJECT STAKEHOLDERS WITHINRESPONSIBILITYTHEPROJECT
Each of the 12 participants (listed on Table 1) in this project has a unique role in defining a blueprint for circularity in textiles (illustrated on Figure 5). Table 1: Consortium partners and their details Ecosystem mapping and Knowledge sharingAalto University Higher education and Research Develop and test new products to engage their customers adidas Direct to consumer high performance clothing Communication, training activities and help build expertise towards circular economy Fashion for Good Consultancy and knowledge creator Piloting the textile waste pre-processing methods, analysing waste streams to be used in the project and test results on the composition of the feedstock Frankenhuis Textile productionconsumer(processingrecyclingpost-andpost-textiles) Denim collection launchH&M GROUP Fashion retail Advance the techno-economic feasibility of Infinna™ in a commercial-scale using the waste streams provided by Frankenhuis Infinited Fiber Company companyInnovation-centred Spinning the Infinna™ fibreInovafil Spinning Manufacturing Infinna™ denimKipas Yarn and manufactureFabric Map, analyse and quantify the data on textile waste management in EuropeRevolve Waste Consultancy focused on textile managementwaste Individual and collective life cycle assessments and assistance on the application for environmental labelling RISE Research Institutes of Sweden Research institute and innovation partner Weaving and finishing the Infinna™ fibreTekstina Textile producer Development of pre-processing methods and assistance on the development of methods for the recirculation of chemicals Xamk Higher education and Research COMPANY MARKETSECTOR MAIN
Use the waste material to understand the financial limitations of the project
Investigate
Chemically pre-treated rew material and analysis results
andperformanceQuality,technicaltests andConsumerfeedbackinsights specificationsDesignProductspecificationsProductDesign
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Figure 5: Overview of by the partners presented on table 1
FUTURESTRATEGICDOCUMENTATIONcompositiontheofthefeedstockPLANNINGFORINSTALLATIONMAPPEDCIRCULARECOSYSTEMLCAANA-LYSISANDCERTIFICATIONS
Infinited Fiber Company will create its unique, cellulose-based fibres out of post-consumer textile waste. Frankenhuis and Xamk will be working on the preprocessing and research for pre-treatment of textile waste. Manufacturers Inovafil, Tekstina and Kipas will use the regenerated fibre to produce yarns, woven fabrics, and denim respectively. REvolve Waste, RISE, and Aalto University, will collect, and provide data, conduct research and analysis. Fashion for Good will lead on the communications to the industry. Design and manufacture of the fibres into clothing will be done by H&M GROUP and adidas.
Composition of the feedstock for each stream
Test reports
the activities and processes carried-out
2 For more on business models, you can find our second white paper here: handle/123456789/116213https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/
design guide lines • Online and B2C c om merce • Clothing company • Mult ibrand • Various speeds to market • Home f urniture 1 2 4123 5 21 332145 adidasRETURN TO W WWPOST-CHOLERETAIHOLERETAILDenim E-commerce 1. Marketing 2. Employee training 3. Sales 4. Return to store 5. Close the loop 1. Design 2. Distribution garmentsAssembledE-commerce
•
1.3 MAPPINGRESOURCE
Even though this looks like a traditional, straight forward production, there were several unforeseen difficulties from sending ‘textile trash’ 3 between countries, the processing of post-consumer garments, to the implementation of largescale machines for fibre processing and the development of market-oriented collections with high potential for colour variations between the lots; there were several issues faced in the first 18 months of project.
Besides the activities developed for the consortium we know the partners also carry out various activities essential for their day-to-day functionality (Figure 6). By analysing and presenting the stages, exchanges, and stakeholder capabilities we were able to increase the projects ambitions towards implementing actual change in the Environmentallyindustry.concerning factors
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design guidelines • Online and B2C c ommerce • Spor tswear collections • Sponsor ships •
such as: transparency and traceability of materials, alongside their production effluents, chemical, treatments, emissions, etc. were evaluated at this stage. Knowing the processes, materials, and other variables used by the different partners helps ensure the system’s functionality, facilitates communication, and provides the means to appreciate potential opportunities for innovation and new business models 2 .
3 Post-consumer textile waste can be seen as trash by customs.
Figure 6: Infinna related stages (in black), activities (in yellow), and partner related activities (in blue) Circ ular Circ ular
www.newcottonproject.eu13 WASTECONSUMERESALEIL&SALEL& Denim Partner related activities & products InfinnaTM production Activities required for InfinnaTM Circular Ecosystem • S econd hand products • low cellulose content products • Recirc ulatable fibres • Technology to recir culate chemicals • C ductionscaleommercialpro • fibresnon-celluloseincorporatingtivesAlterna-for•Rovingspinningframe • Ring spinningframe • dyeingPre-spinning • dyeskindsDifferentof • S printingcreen • N atural color finishes • Different kinds of dyes • Digit al printing Natural color finishes • C ollection sampling • S everal fibres spinning • Nine different spinning technologies • S tages outside the New CorsontiumCotton 1. Desizeing 2. Wash and dry 3. Impregnation 4. Digital print 5. Steam 6. Wash and dry 7. Further finishes 8. Sanforising 9. Quality inspection 10. Winding 4 5 1 23 4321 6 34512 5 3 12 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 4 1 2 3 5 678910 1 234 65 1 2 34 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 FIBRE SHREDDED MONOMATERIALCELLULOSE PRODUCTIONYARN Fibres with high cellulose content loseofEliminationnon-cellu-content fibreInfinnaFabric Yarn Yarn Fabric fabricKnitted garmentsAssembled printedtallydigi-Fabric Yarn 1. Warping 2. Winding the warp 3. Sizeing 4. Drawing 5. Weaving 6. Singeing 1. spinning3.sionsuspen2.mationCarbaLiquidWet1. Manual sorting 2. Cutting 3. Optical sorting 4. Cutting 5. Pre-shredding 6. Shredding 1. Fibre blending & cleaning 2. Carding 3. Drawing 4. Sectioning 5. Roving frame 6. Ring spinning 1. Warping 2. 5.4.3.theWindingwarpSizeingDrawingWeaving 1. Natural colour 2. Mesmerising 3. Washing 4. Drying 5. Quality inspection 6. Winding 1. Design 2. bution3.factureManuDistri 1. Fibre blending 2. Carding 3. Drawing 4. 5.spinningOpen-endWinding
Day-to-day experiences added on to the difficulties such as the definition of acceptable amounts of non-cellulosic materials, colours, breaking down garments, and financial viability of recycling post-consumer garments into new fibres. Additionally, understanding the post-consumer market and comparing these results to market data on feedstock availability, production flows and current disposal alternatives led to an immense amount of research to facilitate assessing potential partnerships for the project.
2.1
TEXTILEPOST-CONSUMERSTREAMS
Finding steady and suitable postconsumer textile streams was one of the main issues faced by REvolve Waste and Frankenhuis, who worked alongside specialised companies to develop suitable machinery for the separation and fibre identification processes (which could make the textile waste processing quicker 4 ).
THE FIRST HALF OF THE PROJECT
2:
CHAPTER14
In March 2022 the NEW COTTON PROJECT celebrated its halfway mark. It was a strategic moment for assessing how the project had evolved and which were the main issues faced by the partners. Half a year later, with the collections being launched to the public, we finally can share a little bit of what happened.
4 Identifying the composition of fabrics can be done in numerous manners, however, in greater quantities this process can lead to mistakes and production delays, so finding a steady and reliable solution was paramount.
5 This percentage also includes the yarn used for sewing the garment, bold prints and other customary additions used by the fashion market.
These difficulties, within the first half of the project, culminated on the overall understanding of market production, availability, disposal streams and the project’s technical restrictions which make it currently impossible to accept more than 12% of non-cellulosic fibres into the recycling process 5 (a figure which should be increased as the technology is developed further by Infinited Fiber Company).
6 For this to happen all the collections garments need to be assembled using threads and accessories made of cotton or other cellulosic fibre. In fi nna Post-co n sumerwaste Yarn p roductionFabric productionTakeUbacksage Retail a n d wholesale Gar ment Fin i shes Good practicesre-cycling possibilitiesandColourspecificationsProductprints Pattern productionandresponseMarket andlifespanments,assess-lifecycle,Usage,extention Figure 7: Information flow between partners
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2.2 COLLECTION DESIGN
Aligned with the post-consumer streams issue the collection could not be designed in such a manner which renders it unfeasible to use it as a resource for the NEW COTTON PROJECT’s ecosystem in the future. With that in mind the design-oriented partners (adidas and H&M GROUP) aligned their product proposition to the requirements raised by the post-consumer textile collectors (Figure 7), for instance ensuring all the parts of the final product would be re-incorporated into the project’s cycle 6 .
As the project goes on, we will continue publishing white papers to assist the consumer, industrial savvy readers, students, and other interested parties to understand the stages/activities/ implications of the NEW COTTON PROJECT. Additionally, Aalto University will be launching an educational page with courses and other educational activities for the general public, once more increasing the project’s transparency and promoting sustainability and open knowledge.
Built on the same principles of a natural ecosystem 7 , a circular ecosystem is being proposed to generate a similar balance throughout the supply-chain. This is important because it promotes communication and cooperation between various business associates in this long-term partnership. As an innovative business model this relationship allows for small and big companies to embrace sustainable practices together, through shared risk 8 .
7 Where the organisms work together to ensure the balance of the environment.
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8 For the consumer, this kind of initiative promotes what is known as ‘Carbon Handprint’ [2]–[4] where there is a collective willingness to share the knowledge created in order to increase consumer and industrial awareness.
FINAL REMARKS AND FUTURE PLANS
CHAPTER 3:
Even though there were difficulties which led to production delays and quantity compromises, the collection is now ready to be launched. Initially through Stella McCartney’s adidas collection at the London Design Week and subsequently in October on adidas and H&M GROUP websites.
[2] K. Grönman et al., “Carbon handprint – An approach to assess the positive climate impacts of products demonstrated via renewable diesel case,” J. Clean. Prod., vol. 206, pp. 1059–1072, Jan. 2019, doi: 10.1016/J. JCLEPRO.2018.09.233.
[4] K. Behm, R. Husgafvel, C. Hohenthal, H. Pihkola, and S. Vatanen, “Carbon handprint-Communicating the good we do,” 2016.
www.newcottonproject.eu
REFERENCES17
[3] T. Pajula, S. Vatanen, H. Pihkola, K. Grönman, H. Kasurinen, and R. Soukka, “Carbon Handprint Guide,” Jan. 2018.
[1] L. Aarikka-Stenroos, P. Ritala, and L. D. W. Thomas, “Circular economy ecosystems: A typology, definitions, and implications,” Res. Handb. Sustain. Agency, pp. 260–276, 2021, doi: 10.4337/9781789906035.00024.
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