It is no secret that the fashion industry still has some work to do to become more virtuous. It is important to remember that many initiatives are being developed today to address the issues it faces.
Material loss when cutting
One of these issues is the loss of material related to the cutting of fabrics at the time of manufacture. The first step in the manufacturing process, the cutting of rolls of fabric follows the patterns created by the designers of client brands. This step has long resulted in a significant loss of material. The patterns, in fact, are not always designed optimally to use all the available material and the remaining scraps, too small to be used on other pieces, are therefore unusable as is. According to the Refashion website, this cutting step would result in the loss of 60 billion m2 of fabric worldwide. A rather significant figure, which can be reformulated as follows: between 20 and 30% of the material is lost during cutting, on average. And when we consider the known effects, in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, of the production of fabrics, of breeding, of transport, but also, once the spinning has passed, of the making of the fabrics itself, the loss is in reality significant (see our carbon footprint on this to understand all the stages).
What to do with these fabrics?
In her book Is Ethical Fashion Possible?, sociologist Madjouline Sbai explains that these fabric scraps are either thrown away or frayed to be transformed into wiping cloths or home insulation.
Part of thinking about the circular economy is finding ways to limit the loss of these scraps. Several solutions are being developed, including the creation of laser cutting machines that can follow extremely precise patterns and shapes. These patterns are designed to fit into each other, thus optimizing the use of the fabric as much as possible. We are already making good use of this with our partners.
Loss of material to meet production minimums
Clothing workshops often have minimum orders in production, which allows them to make their production line profitable. Brands have a certain quantity of products made and, for various reasons, do not always use up all of their fabric stock (cash flow, poor production calculations). It then happens that some rolls of fabric do not reach the quantities necessary for the minimum production required, and therefore remain "dormant" in the workshops. These unused ends of rolls often end up being thrown away. Companies like Nona-Source, revalue and encourage the creative reuse of existing unused resources, such as these dormant stocks.
Upcycling, Hast style
Faced with this problem, other solutions also exist, such as using fabric scraps to make other types of products that require less footage. This is what we wanted to do by using the scraps of fabric from our shirts to make our "upcycled" boxer shorts. In 2019, we therefore designed our first boxer shorts with fabrics originally intended for the production of our shirts. It is about developing a form of upcycling, this process which literally means "recycling from the top" consists of creating new value with materials that are no longer used, of using unused material that is intended to be thrown away.
This season, we decided to try the experiment again by purchasing these forming stocks from one of our suppliers. The idea of using these stocks allows us to participate in the circularity of the economy, and thus continue to commit to a more virtuous fashion.
Discover our upcycled underwear .
