Most of our clothes contain stretch. That stretch usually comes from a fibre called elastane, which is one of the biggest barriers to recycling clothing at scale.
In this episode of the Circular Economy Show, Seb Egerton-Read sits down with Georgia Parker of Fashion for Good and Lewis Shuler of Paradise Textiles (Alpine Group) to discuss why the industry reached for elastane by default rather than by intent.
They discuss how their project, 'Stretching Circularity' brings together brands, innovators, supply chain partners, and ecosystem experts to generate data on performance, recyclability, commercial feasibility, and mapping the barriers to scale.
The goal is to speed up the development and adoption of lower-impact elastane solutions. Although no single fibre will replace elastane, and no single company can solve it alone. Today's bio-based and recycled alternatives are fragmented and early stage, which is why coordinated and compounded industry action is needed to match the scale of the problem.
Links:
Stretching Circularity - https://www.fashionforgood.com/case-study/stretching-circularity-project/
The new bottom line - https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/policy-levers-for-resale-and-repair/report
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