H&M turns recycled waste, byproducts and fibers into fashion

Four years after H&M launched its first Conscious Exclusive collection, featuring clothing and accessories made exclusively from recycled materials, the company now launches its next edition. This time, recycled plastics, byproducts and fibers are turned into more sustainable fashion.

The collection includes four materials and processes new to H&M’s sustainable fashion arsenal. Among them are Eastman’s Naia Renew yarn, which contains 60 percent certified wood fiber and 40 percent recycled waste plastic.

In addition, hemp-based fibers come from Agraloop, a company that manufactures textile fibers from fibrous food waste. The company’s production process also eliminates greenhouse gas emissions normally resulting from fiber production, upcycles wastewater and generates organic fertilizer.

We aRe SpinDye’s dyed recycled polyester also is part of H&M’s collection. In this process, the recycled material is dyed before becoming fabric. The company says its system uses 75 percent less water and 90 percent fewer chemicals than traditional means. Another process from Made of Air results in sunglasses made from what it says is carbon-negative plastic.

Source: https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2020/food-waste-hms-collection/708786