Sustainable fashion: how hi-tech solutions from Hong Kong are helping the clothes industry reduce waste, cut CO2 and fight climate change
- One breakthrough technique is able to separate polyester and cotton from blended fabrics and recycle each, the first commercially viable solution to do so
- Another shreds fabric printed with designs that brands would incinerate, to protect their intellectual property, into unrecognisable pieces that can be recycled
Feed old garments to a yellow-fronted, 40-foot-long container in The Mills, a co-working retail and arts complex in Hong Kong, and you’ll receive new, clean, wearable clothes in return. That’s all thanks to a hydrothermal recycling process that separates polyester and cotton blends, turning the polyester into new, healthy fibres and the cotton into a cellulose powder that can be applied to other products.
It’s an impressive feat by The Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel (HKRITA), one that has been adopted by H&M, which released a collection of recycled clothing in 2020 through its youth brand Monki, and has since invested in an industrial-scale system in Indonesia that should be launched this year. But it’s also just one of many hi-tech solutions for a more circular fashion industry that Hong Kong has helped pioneer.
From collaborating on the creation of biofibres to advances in carbon-absorbing T-shirts and silk recycling, designers, mills and researchers are cleaning up the world’s wardrobes, one garment at a time.
Hong Kong has long played a polluting role in fashion, going from a prominent textile manufacturing hub in the 1950s to a sourcing centre with strategic links to mainland China and Asean countries, but is “taking on its next role as a source of innovation and solutions for the industry”, says HKRITA’s chief executive Edwin Keh.
“We’re able to have this great visibility to see what the issues and opportunities are, and then as a result of that we are also able to create these interesting research platforms with all the stakeholders involved,” says Keh, who was formerly Walmart’s chief operating officer for global procurement.
