A New York start-up is revolutionizing the recycling of stretch textiles like Spandex

In the United States, a New York start-up claims to have found a solution to 100% recycle stretch textiles like Spandex. Which is almost impossible today.

The fashion industry is responsible for 2 to 8% of carbon dioxide emissions, according to figures given by the start-up Return To Vendor, which estimates that 85% of textiles produced in the United States are not recyclable, which represents 10 billion tons in landfills.

Gangadhar Jogikalmath, the co-founder of the start-up, explains to the Fast Company site that stretchy textiles, like those in yoga pants, are almost impossible to recycle because they are made of a mixture of materials: wool with nylon, cotton and polyester. Very hard materials to be separated when recycling. After four years of research, the Return To Vendor team says they have found a solution.

You have to make a stretch fabric from a single material, nylon. This involves transforming it at the molecular level, which Gangadhar Jogikalmath can do since he is a chemist by training. He explains to the Fast Company site that the result would be easy to disassemble and therefore recycle.

Return To Vendor says it uses fishing nets to make this material. With tons of plastic waste in the oceans, this is an additional argument. In theory, the recycled product is completely recyclable. What is used to make pants today can be found in a t-shirt tomorrow and in a bag the day after tomorrow. The technology would not require investment in new equipment and would represent energy savings. We would therefore be in a circular approach, the one that the fashion industry dreams of to put an end to waste.

This new material is moving closer to commercialization because the method is easy to scale in factories, according to Return To Vendor, which explains that costs will drop the more a garment is recycled. Sportswear and underwear brands have already expressed their interest in this new material.

The start-up would even work with a motorcycle manufacturer for spare parts. Technology is a victory for the brand, the consumer and the planet, promises Return to Vendor. Obviously, as with many innovations, it is time that will validate these promises.