ReSpool: Scaling a Circular Materials Model for Textiles from Fashion Waste

• Madeline Messer, Agriculture and Natural Resources, Franklin and Marshall College

• Holly Michael, Earth Sciences, University of Delaware

Clothing is a basic human need, yet the way we clothe ourselves today is fundamentally unsustainable. Our clothing is constructed mostly from water-intensive cotton and petroleum-based synthetics. Each year, more than 100 million tons of these textiles end up in landfills and incinerators, while less than 1% is recycled (Ellen MacArthur Foundation). In response to this crisis, the University of Delaware’s Delaware Environmental Institute is designing a transdisciplinary partnership among academia, government, industry, and nonprofit entities to develop a transferable, regional model for the recycling of apparel and other textile products from post-consumer fashion waste. ReSpool, as it will be called, will implement production and supply chains for recycled textiles, create a range of recycled textile processes and products for applications including apparel, soft goods (e.g., bags), and civil infrastructure (e.g., erosion control blankets), complete sustainability life cycle assessment of ReSpool textile products, develop curricular modules for fashion and engineering design education that emphasize the implemented circular economy concept, and benefits of designing with recycled materials, develop educational materials and related written/video materials focused on circular, “green job” knowledge and skills that is compatible with Goodwill’s existing job training and placement programs, conduct behavioral economics research on consumer preferences and behavior related to used clothing donation and acceptability of recycled fibers, textile composites, and manufactured products, and, lastly, continue to collect and analyze qualitative, ethnographic data documenting the coordination and convergence process for this partnership. Our overarching goal is to implement a radically sustainable recycled materials model for the textile and apparel industries and demonstrate best practices for implementing the model widely across the United States and around the world.