In a world where the vast majority of clothes end up in landfills, and with a fashion industry that is plagued by greenwashing accusations and environmental scandals, we are a business that is providing the means needed to make fashion truly circular.
In our dedicated Changemakers video, we showcase how we’re disrupting the traditional fashion supply chain by giving clothing brands the means to incorporate recycled textiles back into their products to help them cut emissions, reduce waste, and curb clothing’s impact on the environment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LojK1Fcc6gs
Transforming from a linear to a circular production line
With an estimated 100 billion new items of clothes created each year, leading to mountainous amounts of waste that are visible from space and severe environmental costs.
Even though brands may design their clothing using organic textiles and more sustainable fabrics, the end of the supply chain often ends in landfills.
This means more waste at the end of the clothings’ life cycle and more emissions in production.
However, we are offering an alternative.
“Apart from reusing the textiles already produced, turning used textiles into new fibers is a scalable solution with the additional benefit of replacing new production of cotton, as we have impacts around use of water, chemicals, and energy.”
Our signature product, CIRCULOSE®, is a dissolving pulp made from 100% recycled cotton-rich textiles that are reclaimed and then, as Chief Commercial Officer, Tricia Carey explains, “[shredded] into smaller pieces to actually make them into a pulp - and this is what we sell!”
CIRCULOSE® pulp is sold to man-made cellulosic fiber producers to create fibers like viscose, then those fibers are spun into yarns, and woven or knit into fabrics, that eventually become clothing.
With a customer base that already boasts big names such as Levis, H&M, PVH, and Bestseller (just to name a few), we are working to be the provider for businesses so that they can easily access circular textiles for their production line.
Scaling up to service more businesses
The “Renewcell 1” factory, located in Sundsvall, Sweden, currently is able to produce 60,000 tons worth of pulp (the raw material that is then turned into clothes) and has plans to double this output in the coming years.
And given that most clothing lines are now looking into sustainable solutions, Renewcell is a welcome partner who can easily facilitate the demand so that brands can produce sustainable clothing.
Tricia Carey added that: “We also see that policy changes are coming into effect, and those policies also include regulation around circularity and an extended producer responsibility.”
In line with this, Renewcell is not just scaling up production, we've also formed the CIRCULOSE® Supplier Network (CSN), a network of clothing manufacturers across the globe who are committed to sourcing their textiles from circular sources, and meeting the mandates of both policy and their own targets in sustainability.
“For me personally, I realize how important it is that we have a healthy planet for future generations. In short, to close the loops, we need to produce and consume less clothes by making them last longer, use them longer, and expand second hand options before recycling them into new fibers.” - Tricia Carey, Chief Commercial Officer at Renewcell.
Make sure to check us out on the We Don’t Have Time Changemakers panel at COP28 - register below!
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23 w
Always glad to see a changemaker join the ranks with making a good change in the world
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23 w
Is it possible to use even 100% CIRCULOSE in a new garment?
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23 w
A great Changemaker example - Renewcell making circular textiles.
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23 w
I agree with Tricia Carey that we need to produce and consume less clothes, and use them longer, before recycling them into new fibers.