From 2023, a fully circular textile factory will open in Amsterdam. The Brightfiber Textiles factory will be “the first 100% recyclable raw material factory for the fashion industry,” according to a company statement .
From 2023, a fully circular textile factory will open in Amsterdam. The Brightfiber Textiles factory will be “the first 100% recyclable raw material factory for the fashion industry,” according to a company statement .
The factory can produce around 2.5 to 3 million kilograms of raw materials from textile leftovers per year. That is almost as much as is collected in textile containers in Amsterdam every year.
With the establishment of the factory, Ellen Mensink, founder of Brightfiber Textiles, wants to “encourage fashion brands to use more of their own residual flows instead of virgin wool, cotton and synthetic fibers for their next collections”. Currently, one percent of all collections in the Netherlands consists of recycled material, a quarter of that is consumer waste, and Mensink hopes to change that.
Circular and local
Mensink is also the owner of the social enterprise Brightloops BV and the brand Loop.a.life, which has been making new textile products from old clothes for the past five years. Brightfiber Textiles builds on the steps that have been made here over the last few years. “In five years we have learned a lot from Loop.a life,” says Mensink in the release. “We bought the material ourselves and guided it through the various steps in the production chain. From experience, we know which sorting streams lead to high-quality raw materials, beautiful yarns and end products.”
The Brightfiber factory will produce sustainable raw materials and yarns in the same way, “but on an industrial scale,” they say. Brightfiber is currently working on an extensive yarn development project in collaboration with international and local spinning and knitting mills, various Dutch brands, the province of North Holland and the textile sorting company Wieland Textiles.
The new factory will provide a more sustainable alternative to current textile production. Not only because the factory recycles residual flows, but also because it saves CO2 emissions: For local fashion companies, the raw materials no longer always have to come from far away, which saves transport kilometers. In addition, the factory creates local jobs.
Part of the funding for the factory comes from the Department of Circular Economy of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management. With the support of the initiative, the ministry wants to promote the use and production of circular textiles in the Netherlands.
This translated post previously appeared on FashionUnited.nl.