This tech can turn old clothes into fresh fabric

In a step towards environment conservation, a Finnish company has come up with technology that can create fabric from old clothing, agricultural waste, and even trees.

Spinnova, based in Jyväskylä, Finland, built a technology that creates fibre from cellulose, without the environmental challenges of older materials, Fast Company reported.

The company set up its pilot factory in later 2018 where patented machines grind up wood pulp and agricultural waste into tiny fibres that can be spun into wool and then made into fabric for clothing. This has advantages over virgin cotton that requires large amounts of water to grow, and the use of pesticides as well.

Spinnova says that the process consumes less water than cotton because it uses trees that don’t need irrigation as they grow. It doesn’t even use harmful chemicals to break down the tough fibres.

The company is beginning first with wood pulp but it has experimented with multiple other sources of fibre such as carrot peels and cotton clothing. Theoretically, clothing brands could take back their clothing to use as raw material for sustainable clothing of the future.