Recycled fiber can be used to produce clothing, thus saving resources and energy while minimizing waste generation. Schijvens Corporate Fashion BV commenced a pilot project to close the loop on uniforms. The ambition of the company was to be fully circular in its production.

Every day, people discard clothes as waste, which ends up piling. The production and consumption of clothing poses a significant environmental footprint. Large quantities of resources, including water,energy, chemicals, and raw materials, are utilized. In most parts of the world, clothing discarded by consumers ends up in landfills or is incinerated.

Production of clothing from recycled textiles was identified as a practical solution. The company's mission is to produce sustainable workwear using materials from discarded textiles. The company engaged with its partners in the supply chain. Workwear with post-consumer recycled materials was produced with 100% recycled content. This included 30% post-consumer textiles, 20% pre-consumer textile, and 50% recycled post-consumer PET from bottles.

Through this project of using recycled fiber, an environmental benefit was achieved during 2017–2018. The water savings were 38.617m3, the energy savings were 94.743kWh, and the CO2 reduction was 19.8 tonnes.

Photo credit: forageandsustain.com https://forageandsustain.com/6-fabrics-rated-best-to-worst/