There鈥檚 no debate that the textile industry is a major contributor to the waste stream and that the movement to do something about it is growing. Now the issue of what do to with leftover and discarded textiles and apparel is being attacked at many levels.
Evrnu, founded and run by Stacy Flynn, has invented a regenerative fiber made from post-consumer cotton textile waste and has begun to sell it into the apparel, home goods and industrial markets.
鈥淭he textile industry is one of the most damaging industries on the planet and I didn鈥檛 see it until 2010, when I traveled to China and went into the areas where the subcontracting takes place,鈥� Flynn said at the New York Textiles Summit at the Fashion Institute of Technology on Tuesday. 鈥淢y colleague and I got out of the car and were standing right next to each other, but we couldn鈥檛 see each other, the pollution was so thick.鈥�
For a month, Flynn travelled around the country and the conditions did not improve.
鈥淚 began to think about how many hundreds of thousands of yards I had made over the years in my career and all of a sudden I became linked to the cause of the problem,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o, my theory is, if one person can do so much damage completely unintentionally, what can the same person do to turn it around. So that鈥檚 what I鈥檓 committing the rest of my career to.鈥�
Flynn went back to school and got an MBA degree in Sustainable Systems and soon launched Evrnu knowing that the supply chain begins with the fiber and the problem is the resources required to produce it and the waste it makes on the back end.
Evrnu captures cotton garment textile waste before it reaches the landfill, converts it into a liquid, then transforms it into a new pure fiber that can take on the characteristics the designer needs.
鈥淓vrnu can work with donation facilities waste through licensing partnerships to collect the clothing, break it down and get the fiber into the supply chain,鈥� Flynn said.
By reusing the fiber, Flynn said Evrnu helps save 98 percent of the water that it takes to make traditional cotton fiber and reduces CO2 emissions by 90 percent compared to polyester production.
鈥淲hen we work with brands, we鈥檙e not advocating for the elimination of virgin materials,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hat we鈥檙e advocating for is a balance on a platform level. So if virgin cotton is being used with a regenerative technology, this could offset the natural damage that cotton creates and sets up a model of reciprocity where you鈥檙e giving at the same rate you鈥檙e taking. And that is the ultimate sustainable model.鈥�
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