Here’s how used fabrics can be recycled to make new garments.  

That's so cool! And a great idea for recycling clothing.

Remember that recycle is that last of the three Rs. Focus on reducing waste and reusing old clothes before considering recycling them, especially if they are mendable or still fit you. You can paint them with fabric paint, embroider, patch, upcyle or tie dye them if you want something fresh but try and use what you have if you can

If you look at recycled clothing you will find years ago a processes called Shoddy and Mungo. Done in my home town over a hundred years ago garments were taken broken down and reformed in to cloth. I can remember my Mum taking clothing items to be sold at the textile mill by the pound which was then recycled this was in the early sixties in the then Called Heavy Woollen District in West Yorkshire.

I doubt anyone working on/with this machine will ever see this comment, but not only should you just sell the fibers as yarns and threads for knitting and/or weaving, but this would be amazing as a vending style machine where you put in a few bucks, feed in the damaged clothing, pick a style of new garment you want, and hit "print" lol. Because it costs money, people would still donate perfectly fine clothing they no longer want to thrift stores. You could even open a charity type project where people could feed their damaged clothing in for free, and it would go through the process but put the yarn in a special container reserved for the machine to run after hours to know sweaters and whatever is needed for like the homeless for example. I have SO many ideas for a machine like this and would absolutely LOVE to help make them real.

It's about time. All old clothes need to be taken care of this way.

Unfortunately, making new poly cloth has become cheaper than recycling so a lot of clothing recycling plants have closed. I learned this in 2018 from an article by Bloomberg called "Nobody Wants Your Old Clothes." Recycling is fantastic, but hopefully one day more will be done to address the causes of excessive clothing waste instead of just the symptoms.

I work in a thrift store. Many times we get unserviceable clothing that is sent to “bale” (as in a cotton bale, a bale of wool, etc).. I was told that “bale” is then sent to China. I have no way to prove if that is true or not. We are sending raw resource material to a place that accepts that raw material for next to nothing, since it is considered unsellable here. Why aren’t we doing this? Keep the raw resource material here. Thanks, Brandon.

I actually found at Joann fabrics they have a brand of yarn that’s made from either 100% recycled polyester, or a recycled polyester cotton blend.

The biggest mistake as clothing transitioned from natural fibres into plastic was mixing different materials. By adding cotton to polyester (PET) nylon, etc, they actually prevent them from being recycled like any other plastic. This new method now adds cotton, meaning an easily recyclable material is now land fill the next time it’s thrown out. Even mixed synthetic fibres could be heated in an oxygen free fractionation tower and turned back into oil. But having natural fibres in the mic means carbon and oxygen in the system.

Maybe we could focus on growing sustainable clothing like cotton or hemp and other plant fibres that are easily recyclable, and just reduce the pesticides used by engineering the crops to become more resistant to pests. I just feel this will only ever be able to tackle a fraction of the waste if we continue to make the majority of clothing from plastics

Finally!! All fast fashion stores should offer this type of recycling services

The clothes they recycle are better than almost anything I have😢

As a crocheter, this is fascinating!!

Resulting in short fibers which explains why clothing "pills" after two washes making it cheap looking. Better to have a new, long, natural fiber and use the item with care for years.

Thank you factory workers for all the hard work you do and God bless each and every one of you 🙏

I'm so in awe. Bless these brains. Times are a changin’!

Fabric made with recycled fibres was known in past centuries as 'shoddy', and it’s where we get the term that means not very good quality. Hopefully these new garments will be much better quality.

Is it done with just one piece of clothing at a time? If you mixed different colored clothes together, would all the new clothes turn out a brown/grey?

If you’re a knitter or crocheter, there are *LOTS* of brands that sell yarn made out of recycled fibers. Some are recycled polyester, some are recycled cotton, and I’m sure there’s other fibers out there too. They come in just about every weight too. I’ve seen everything from fingering to bulky. So it you wanted to get in on this recycled fiber clothing idea, there’s lots of options to make something yourself.

We need more of these types of businesses

Someone finally decided to do something with all that lint in their dryer.

The last part is me, after I came home from a long day at work...

"This step does require some new materials" *adds literal plastic bag*

I love this solution to create a new value chain from the existing *however* we still need an alternative to the the high waste fast fashion paradigm currently at play.

Yes, my tumble dryer makes this too 😂

Hmmm not going to lie the clothes they started with looked better 😂

We need more of this!

Wool has been recycled for over 200 years. Cotton fabric also has a long history of reuse, although cotton degrades more with each reincarnation than some other fibers. Problems with processing for reuse develop when different types of fibers have been blended such as protein based (wool, fur, silk, ...), plant-based (cotton, hemp, ...), partially synthetic (rayon/viscose) and completely synthetic hydrocarbon-based fibers. Each type of fiber has different requirements to clean, process for reuse, and dye. There are obviously ways to work around some of those issues. Its good to see a company developing a new method to reuse used fabrics instead of sending it all to be entombed in a landfill.

Thanks Emily

next step: produce less clothes, so there's less unwanted stuff going into landfill or needing to be recycled at all. this video shows good technology, but it won't make the tiniest bit of difference so long as fast fashion monsters like shein are allowed by governments and encouraged by consumers to operate.

People are so smart!! The technology that keeps coming up is truly amazing.

WOW!!! love it!!! please pass the technology across the globe. Thank you for the process

Even with some new material it is still saving so thousands of clothes from going in the landfill

Why not just sanitize old clothes and use it again?

Love it recycling old for new great idea 💡

I'm from Hong Kong but have never heard of this, glad to learn that there's still innovation left here

i think its the same place h&m collab with in HK. still wonder how much of energy was used on it

It's so crazy how we can have nice things and take care of the planet at the same time if people just care 💞

This has to become standard for all our recycling plants, with all the fast fashion and low quality clothing. Alot cannot be donated, this would be awesome ❤❤

Next question, can we do it with lint

Normally, your old clothes get cut up into rough sheets and sold to warehouses and shops as cleanup rags.

I was literally gonna make a business like this when I grew. I didn't know it was already done. It's great! I'll join in

This is amazing!!! The fact that recycling is getting this inventive is so wonderful!!!

That's really cool!

Step 1...look at the clothes you LOVE to wear (the ones you reach for most) and have a REALLY good think about WHY you love them (style, fabric, comfort) Step 2...in future buy similar clothes like that. This creates much less recycled clothing as you wont end up with as many clothes tht are vought/never worn/thrown out. I did this a few years ago and now I make myself clothes (I know its not for everyone) that I love to wear and they last for decades! 70% of my wardrobe is handmade and natural fibres. As I age I know I will have to re-evaluate my preferences but so far its working with hardly any wasted clothes 👍 In the old days when all clothes were handmade they had to make sure they would last, we can learn something from times gone by!

"Fake food and now fake clothes" True

Basically what cotton mills did. Only difference is the recycled clothes. Cotton bails arrived at the ant was ran through a machine to be cleaned and separated went into what they called "card machine" where it was made into the web and then into the coil. Then went to what they called drawing where the coil was made smaller, then to spinning where it was turned into the fibers that was woven into cloth. From there some went to the dying process and the other was sent to the weaving department to be woven with the dyed fibers and there you have denim or what ever type of cloth that plant makes. Yes I worked in a cotton mill and so did my parents and grandparent

Brilliant!❤

Emily is on point, Emily needs a raise..

Looks super labor intensive. Must be a prototype line. Hopefully it will improve so it can be scaled up

Best, most USEFUL idea everrtt !! Theres millions of pieces of wasted clothing / fabric every year, that just get tossed onto the dump piles. This should go a long way to remedy that wasteful madness. 🥰

Recycling at it's best!

This is a neat idea, but I have a question... Is it efficient or cost effective? How does this complexity compare to that of merely creating cloth from (e.g.) new cotton? I'm all for recycling, but it's really only a benefit if it reduces hazardous waste or preserves a scarce resource.

WE NEED THIS IN EVERY STORE ALL OVER THE WORLD!!! NOW!!!

This is the coolest thing I’ve seen in a long time.

I think this is brilliant! Of course, re-using and re-purposing are the best options. Also, remember, fashions come back. What is old is new again. Be gentle with your clothes and learn ways to treat stains. Just don't gain or lose too much weight!

So you make cloth from cloth ? What a breakthrough !

That’s actually a great idea. Recycling is the only way we can stop this bs I’m seeing lately with people clogging up rivers and whatnot with recyclables.

Considering that fast fashion is one of the biggest offenders of waste, this is BRILLIANT.

😂 yes but it feels like plastic bags 😂😂😂

Brilliant

This method exists for hundreds of years, I first witnessed it in Jordan in the 80's.

This is recycling at its best. Watching from Auckland, New Zealand. ❤🦋

Wondering what material was that to mix with the to be recycled clothes Edit: look i clearly heard cottonbut incase anyone knows if some factory mix materials 🤷‍♀️

What company/business is this?

This needs to be made on a huge industrial scale. There is way too many clothes in our landfill

That must feel amazing when your holding the fibre

oh wow

Oooor we learn people how to value cloths instead of healing them throw everything away.

Aways (for years & years) wanted to find a use for old unbearable clothes & especially mismatched & holey socks. This process should be in every city/town in world.❤❤

Increíble tecnología actual. Tiempo, esfuerzo y dedicación. Gracias x compartir, saludos desde la CDMX

This is groundbreaking, we need this in the US stat, the good we could do and reduce our carbon footprint 😊

Used fabric or unusable fabric?

This is great. I like to do something simpler, i just buy sweaters from thrift stores, unravel them, and knit new stuff. I turn jeans into purses. Stuff like that is a smaller step but its in the right direction

Bring this technology everywhere.

Should be applied world wide.

Yeah microplastics!

I wish I can attach one of those on the end of my dryer and just collect the lint lol

So...dreadlocs for cloth fibers. LOVE IT...and it makes sense.

How much electricity ?

Technician??? 😂

Amazing! Every city should have one.

I like this. That way fast fashion can be redone and remade into something better. Use this recycling and we will be good sustainability wise.

Great idea, paying MORE for USED clothes.

It looks costly and unprofitable, kinda hard to use in capitalism.

Technician = factory worker Emily = Ming Ling

That fabric looks awesome!!!

I Love it. Anything that reduces waste is excellent. Thank you for sharing this information. Repurpose reuse ❤😊

omg you turned fabric into fabric? you're a magician!

how my mom recycle clothes: give it to the poor family next door

"So kids, now that this happens, remember that your t-shirts once were made out of someone's underwear!" "YEWAAAAAAAA"

That’s amazing they should do this in all countries

This is fantastic we should see of New Hampshire and possibly aquire machine like this!

The fashion industry should hav3 been doing this for decades

As a knitter, I’m seeing “yarn” as the rope tumbles into the bucket. Imagine the coziest thick blankets and rugs…

Fibre web sounds so much cooler than it's traditional name; slubbing.

Goodwill should get into this of the actual unwanted clothes that's put in trash.

We need this worldwide. So much clothing goes in the landfill

This is SO amazing‼️ I've lost over 200lbs & now have a "ton" of clothes that don't fit. I live in a senior community which holds a clothing exchange on the 1st wkend of every mo. I don't think anyone here could use the clothes & I'm not sure any of our local thrift stores would take them either. Wish there was something like that here. There's a company in the states that makes quilts out of old T-shirts. Would be nice to have that as the top & the reverse side made from old jeans. 😮

Recycling at its best, glad to see it!!