The Worn Again process has been designed from the start to process polycottons, which are a cornerstone fabric in modern clothes, but also some of the hardest to recycle. We also provide a unique solution to the market, which is the solvent based recycling approach. This approach is able to selectively target key materials, in this case polyester and cotton, in a way that other technologies are not.
A big part is data and transparency: recyclers often lack reliable, standardized material and attachment-data about trims (what they’re made of, coatings, adhesives), so the safest operational choice is removal. The other part is inertia and risk-aversion: sorting and recycling lines are tuned for throughput and predictable inputs; including trims creates contamination risk, downgrades output or causes downtime to handle foreign materials.