It ain't fashion, if it ain't sustainable

Textile Sorting

Textile Sorting / NIST Database

9 January 2025

2 minutes

A clothing sample is analysed using an analytical lab technique called near-infrared spectroscopy.

NIST Database of Molecular Fingerprints of Fabrics Will Help Increase Recycling of Textiles and Clothing, Now Available for Free

The US’ measurement institute could have made textile sorting a tad easier with the development of a database that contains the molecular “fingerprints” of 64 different fabric types.

Staff Writer

Going Circular / Accelerators

13 September 2023

The 2023 edition of its Challenge-Based Innovation (I.FAST-CBI) project was held at the European Scientific Institute (ESI) in Archamps, near Geneva. This year, the jury was convinced by the idea of applying particle accelerators to treat textile waste.

Particle Accelerators Can Accelerate Circular Fashion by Segregating Fabric Components

Fabric blends in clothing could soon be sorted easy if a proposal by a multi-disciplinary team of students to use an electron beam to segregate different fabric components through electrostatic separation finds takers.

Staff Writer

Textile Waste / Chemical Sorting

23 March 2023

The separation of individual materials from waste fabrics is accomplished by manual sorting, largely depending on human labour. This method has low accuracy and is unreliable and in turn fails to collect homogeneous materials, which is often critical for further steps of recycling.

Chemical Sorting Breakthrough: Korea Team Separates Polyester, Commercial Operations Planned for 2025

Korean scientists are working to build multi-scale facilities for the chemical recycling of clothing waste, especially polyester, which can then be used as clean feedstock as the sorting method eliminates most organic impurities including intractable dyes.