5 Innovations That Could Help Make Fast Fashion More Sustainable

If a shirt or dress made with a new type of thread is heated to a certain temperature (266 degrees, hot enough to melt some types of plastic), the thread will dissolve, making zippers and buttons fall off, and the fabric can be used again. It’s one step in making clothing more recyclable: Right now, disassembling a garment is so labor-intensive that it rarely happens. The thread, called Smart Stitch, is one of five early-stage designs to win the 2018 Global Change Award, a competition sponsored by the philanthropic arm of Swedish fast-fashion empire H&M, which aims to help the fashion industry shift from the standard linear model–where clothes often end up in the landfill–to a circular model, where materials can be reused or composted. An online vote currently in process will decide which of the winners gets the largest piece of a million-euro prize. Crop-A-Porter, one of the winning designs, makes fabric out of crop waste. After farmers harvest pineapples or bananas, the waste is typically burned or left to rot on the ground, emitting greenhouse gases. The new process, which extracts cellulose from the waste to make new fiber and textile, turns the waste into a new source of income for farmers. Clothing made from the fabric can be composted. Read more at Fast Company.