BioTEN BURRR: Exploring current use, reuse, repair and recycling practices for bio-based clothing towards guidelines for circular fashion designers

The HEREWEAR project is building a holistic, systems approach towards the creation of an EU market for locally produced textiles and clothing made from bio-based resources. New material solutions have been building on the latest bio-based polyesters and cellulose developments, exploring agricultural waste or bi-product (mainly wheat straw, plentiful in northern Europe) for making cellulosic textile fibres. Working in tandem with technical material research actions, design and manufacturing is being explored via the creation of garment prototypes for streetwear and corporate clothing. The use phase and end-of-life processing management – use, re-use, repair and recycle – is also being explored, to understand how new design approaches and business models might support this. This paper uses the BIO TEN framework currently being developed (Earley and Forst, Forthcoming), to support the translation of lived experiences of working with bio-based materials into recommendations for the design and production of bio-based clothing which considers extended use phases. The BIO TEN gives structure to information, inspirational case studies and specific actions offered to the industry stakeholders. In particular, the framework supports an enhanced definition of remanufacturing as a lifecycle extension strategy, in contrast to its conventional positioning in the field of recycling. The methods for this study included a literature review covering existing guidelines, a practice review of the work of Mai bine, a small social enterprise in Iasi, Romania, interviews with early adopters (Romanian designers experienced in working with bio-based materials), and BURRR workshops with these designers, as well as students in London (BURRR is short for Bio / Use / Reuse / Repair / Recycle).