AWARD YEAR
2021
CATEGORY
Work
GOALS
Responsible Consumption & Production
KEYWORDS
fibre-to-fibre recycling, circular economy, circular fashion
COUNTRY
Finland
DESIGNED BY
Susanna Raiskio; Marja Rissanen
WEBSITE
https://distributeddesign.eu/?post_type=af_entry&p=4453
Circo
Chemical Recycling
The project was developed to reduce textile waste, which our current linear ‘take, make, dispose’ fashion industry has caused.
Circo is a classic and unisex white T-shirt made from 100% hemp. The product is designed to have a long life span by creating a shape, which is suitable for men and women at every age, and by using hemp fibres, which are strong and durable. Additionally, hemp is an environmentally responsible material. Its cultivation doesn't require pesticides, and water footprint is significantly lower than for example in cotton cultivation.
At the end of the T-shirt's life, it is ground into a fine powder, without needing to disassemble the product first, because it includes only cellulose based fibres; a hemp knit and a sewing thread made from cotton. The fine powder is chemically converted into new virgin-equivalent Ioncell®-fibres. The process enables a circular material resource, and it reduces the need of virgin material resources.