Fashion is the next frontier for clean tech as textile waste mounts

Ambient Photonics is looking to ramp up production with a target of millions of cells by 2026. Photo / Bloomberg

The US$1.7 trillion ($2.8t) fashion industry is a major polluter: by one estimate, it’s responsible for between 8% and 10% of annual greenhouse gas emissions, more than aviation and href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/shipping/" target="_self" rel="" title="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/shipping/">shipping combined.

Clothes manufacturing relies on fossil fuel-derived fibres like polyester and guzzles energy and water. And the churn of fast fashion means that many items are discarded soon after they’re purchased, which has contributed to eye-popping amounts of textile waste.

Two textile-focused start-ups are among this year’s BloombergNEF Pioneers award winners: Circ, in Danville, Virginia, turns mixed-fibre fabric back into its reusable raw materials, while Paris-based EverDye has developed a lower-impact textile dyeing process.

Much of the fabric produced today is a blend of cotton and polyester, which is more durable than pure cotton. But the blended fibres are extremely difficult to separate and therefore challenging to recycle.

“It’s so hard to mechanically separate them. You can’t comb it apart,” says Sonja Salmon, a textile science professor at North Carolina State University. “A machine will think it’s the same thing.”

That’s why Circ turned to chemistry instead. Its technology uses water as a solvent, plus pressure, to break down large polyester molecules – polymers – into their building blocks, or monomers, says Peter Majeranowski, the company’s president. This helps separate the two types of fibre. Circ then purifies the polyester monomers and the cotton so they can both be reused in textile production.

The start-up has spent significant time “refining and developing our process to ensure that our materials are better than virgin, from a greenhouse impact”, Majeranowski says.

In addition to venture and supply chain investment, Circ has received investment from Patagonia, Inditex (Zara’s parent company) and the European fashion platform Zalando SE. The company would like brands to sign multi-year contracts to use material recycled with its technology. But making commitments for several seasons is uncommon in the industry, Majeranowski says – “a muscle that brands aren’t used to”.

Dyeing the fabric that gets sewn into garments is an energy-intensive step in the manufacturing process. Conventionally, pigments are heated to very high temperatures so that the colour can bind. EverDye says it’s found a way to do this with room-temperature water.

Mineral pigments used for textiles are generally negatively charged, Christelle Chauffeton, a research scientist at EverDye, says. The fabric is also negatively charged, so the two have no affinity and the colour won’t adhere. That’s why the dyeing process typically relies on additives, binders and high heat.

EverDye's R&D laboratory in Romainville, France. Photo / Cyril Marcilhacy

EverDye takes mineral pigment and “synthesises it directly on a nanoparticle of biopolymer”, says Chauffeton, that was chemically modified to be positively charged. When the biopolymer (or natural polymer) is put next to a negatively charged fabric, the pigment will go on the fabric without additives or the need for intense heat. Later, another application of heat causes the nanoparticles to come together and form a film on the surface of the fibres, trapping the pigment.

The start-up can now dye fabrics brown, orange or yellow and is fine-tuning its approach to create blue, red and black hues. “It takes time to adapt the formulas,” Victor Durand, EverDye’s head of operations, says.

It launched a small-capsule collection last October and is doing pilot testing with brands including Lacoste and Petit Bateau. The company is currently raising money for its Series A funding round.

“Our goal is to be a regular provider of dyes in the supply chain,” Durand says.

EverDye and Circ join a host of firms innovating in pursuit of lower-impact textiles, such as Boston-based Galy, which grows cotton in a lab to reduce the crop’s heavy water and fertiliser use, and Algaeing, an Israeli start-up that makes biodegradable yarns and dyes out of algae.

Buying clothing second-hand – or just buying less of it – is an effective way to shrink fashion’s footprint. But the global business of making new garments isn’t going away any time soon. Circ, EverDye and their peers are working to clean up the process step by step.