We all know that a throw-away mindset is not good for our earth. If we want to lower the impact of fashion, we have to think about the entire lifecycle of a garment. What happens with your clothing after you stop wearing it? That is where post-consumer recycled cotton comes in.

What is post-consumer recycled cotton?

Post-consumer cotton waste is made from worn clothes with high cotton percentage disposed of at the end of their life. Clothing sorters ensure that textiles put into their textile recycling bins will find a new purpose. By disposing of worn-out clothes correctly, you give your clothes a chance to be re-worn, recycled or downcycled!

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How is the post-consumer recycled cotton fabric made?

Before garments can be shredded into fibres, they must be separated by colour and material. Then, all parts of the garment that can’t be used are cut off, and metal accessories, like zippers or buttons, are removed. The garments go into the shredder and come out as fibres. The fibres are then disentangled and aligned in a carding process. Combs make sure all fibres are facing the same way. The fibres can then be spun to make yarn.

Recycled fibres are shorter than virgin fibres and need to be mixed with virgin fibres with a longer fibre length to keep a high-quality yarn. That is why most of our jeans, made with post-consumer recycled cotton, do not yet contain more than 20% recycled cotton. But a lot of innovation is pushing this number up.

Why do we use recycled fabrics?

Recycling worn clothing has a lot of environmental benefits. Most thrown-away garments end up in a landfill. There, the fabric slowly decomposes, which generates greenhouse gasses. On top of that, chemicals and dyes can leach into our groundwater and precious soil. Recycling our clothes keeps garments from ending up in those landfills and gives them a new purpose!

Recycling textile also reduces the consumption of energy, water and other resources. On top of that, recycled yarns sometimes need less or no dye, as the recycled fibres may already be coloured in just the right shade. Enough reasons to bring recycling into season!

"Recycling our clothes keeps garments from ending up in those landfills and gives them a new purpose!"

How do we guarantee the cotton we use is recycled?

All the recycled cotton we use is GRS (Global Recycled Standard), or RCS (Recycled Claim Standard) certified. These are standards that prove that recycled content is really recycled and if they are made from pre- or post-consumer waste. GRS also includes social and environmental management criteria and chemical limitations. Kuyichi is GRS certified as a company as well.