Weaving for Reuse: Emerging Recycling Ecosystems for Design for Disassembly

The fashion and textiles industry is currently less than 1% circular, nonetheless, examples of garments made to be recycled are proliferating. What role do these garments play in shaping a circular economy when they rely on systems that are currently in their infancy to be effectively recovered and recycled as intended? The assumption is that by creating products that can circulate and be regenerated as new fibres once their first life is over, we are anticipating systems and technology changes to come.

This chapter explores the role of research and development in new materials for fashion in representing emerging ecosystems of recycling for the industry. Interrogating the journey taken from inception to recycling, and the assumptions that are made at each step for a ‘best-case-scenario’ of a circular industry can provide insights for other innovators developing products that infrastructure future circular systems. The work connects the very tangible technical developments in weaving and garment structure with the speculative description of a circular future. This study blends practice research through prototyping and ecosystems mapping to contextualise the practice.