Enabling Circularity

OnceMore® and Lenzing have a history of working together for over 10 years, developing textile pulp, and more recently, processes of textile recycling. With a mindset of improving, and with robust knowledge and expertise at hand, OnceMore® and Lenzing saw opportunities to complement each other’s skills in their respective textile recycling processes and roles in the value chain, and hence decided to collaborate to achieve faster progress.

Designing with circularity in mind can change the industry. By making design decisions with reuse-, repair-, recycle-mindset we can reduce the environmental impact of fashion and textiles. The purpose of this guide is to share our experience within the topic of textile recycling, the possibilities as well as the limitations within textile recycling. Södra and Lenzing want to educate and inspire designers through a holistic approach to operative design work – toward a shift in mindset – moving the textile industry from a linear into a circular business model.

The textile challenge concerns overconsumption, overproduction, and designing products without thinking about their recyclability. But this is about to change. To get there, we need to change how garments are made from scratch. 

“Designers can reduce negative climate impact with 1.2 million ton CO2-equivalents every year, by choosing the right design, depending on what can be recycled and circulated.”

This Enabling Circularity guide aims to explain how we can enable recycling at the design stage by changing how we design, with a focus on:

Design choices that can reduce environmental impact.
Perspectives that enable circularity and recycling, such as relevance, longevity, use, materials & details. Solutions to ensure fiber-to-fiber recycling.