Many brands are recycling used clothes. Do you know where these recycled clothes go? Some brands choose to burn recycled old clothes, while many domestic brands donate them to areas in Africa in need. Domestic clothes are very effective, in line with fashion trends, and at low prices. Donations are equivalent to secondary use.
There are also donations through Xianyu used clothes in the Xianyu App. They will list the categories and quantities required for projects in the donated area, but did the clothes actually go to the people in need, or what the final result is actually impossible Tracked. In addition, there are some recycled clothes in the country that are landfilled. Some, as far as I know, are recycled and transformed in batches by some cheap manufacturers of Pinduoduo. Both Levi’s and Adidas are moving towards the goal of 100% recyclability, but are still in the experimental stage. At present, the recycling industry is still in a stage where information is not sufficiently transparent.
For example, H&M claims to have achieved 90% resource recovery, but it is actually difficult for consumers to know the ultimate fate of these things.
To achieve information transparency, we need to use blockchain technology to track, but it is not meaningful to use technology to track non-luxury and inexpensive clothes. The truth behind this opacity is that according to statistics, only 1% of recycled textiles and clothing are used to reproduce new fabrics. Existing natural fibers are difficult to achieve 100% recycling, and new fibers must be added to ensure the quality of the fabric. It is still very difficult to recycle old textile fabrics into fabrics. Especially natural materials, such as cotton, linen, leather, wool, etc. Basically recycled natural fabrics, the recycled part only accounts for 30-50%, and the other part is new fiber, so as to ensure the quality of the fabric.
Austrian fabric giant Lenzing plans to invest more than 1 billion euros in the next few years to expand the production of Lyocell (Lyocell, commonly known as "Tencel") fiber. Lyocell is made of recycled wood and recycled cotton waste. This new fabric has the advantages of these two materials. It is wear-resistant, stable, comfortable and breathable, and has an improved degradation rate to better meet the needs of sustainable development.