H&M funds Hong Kong research on recycling blended fabrics

Hong Kong researchers are working on a project looking into ways of recycling blended fabrics, aiming to close a loop for textiles used by the fashion industry.
Unwanted garments made from blended fibres are usually discarded in landfills or downcycled into insulation, carpeting and other low-value options.
H&M Foundation, a non-profit global foundation funded by the Stefan Persson family, the founders and main owners of fashion company H&M, is working with the Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel (HKRITA) to develop a series of research projects with a contribution of €5.8 million (US$6.5 million). HKRITA will do the research and work to commercialise the outcomes. The Hong Kong government’s Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF) is providing extra research funding and support.
“This is one of the biggest and most comprehensive efforts ever for textile recycling,” says H&M Foundation project manager Erik Bang. “The overall aim for us as a foundation is to protect the planetary boundaries and work to ensure living conditions. We want to develop at least one ready technology to recycle clothes made from textile blends into new clothes. This would be a major breakthrough in the journey toward a closed loop for textiles in the fashion industry.” “We look forward to providing practical solutions to a pressing local and global challenge,” says HKRITA CEO Edwin Keh. “Sustainability is one of our key research focusses. We aim to develop technologies that are scalable and commercially viable.”
The exact financial contribution from the H&M Foundation is determined by the surplus from H&M’s global in-store garment-collecting program, which is donated to the foundation. Half of this money is allocated to research on textile recycling.
Established in 2006, HKRITA is a publicly funded applied-research centre and one of five such organisations sponsored by the ITF, which encourages Hong Kong companies to upgrade their technology level.

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