TEXTILE-TO-TEXTILE

What are the challenges & opportunities that lie ahead for T2T recycling?

Becky’s research with Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE) between 2011-2019 provided her with a first hand foundational knowledge in how the technologies for polyester & cellulosic material recycling works. The Trash-2-Cash project (EU H2020, 2015-2018) translated this knowledge into new prototypes, each experimenting with a different USP. Reflections & insights from this work - & more recent projects - can be found below.

Circular Textile Transitions

Becky was invited to talk at a Material Connexions Italia event, part of Design Week in Milan. She drew from her experience of the Trash-2-Cash project & talked about how circular textiles design needs to have a holistic vision for textile-to-textile processes. It’s not just about the technology…

  • Read: Design for Sorting Knitwear

    Exploring blended textile wastes & the relationship between sorting, recovery, & recycled blending in yarn manufacture. This paper illustrates a real-world application of theory & frameworks for evaluating & colour sorting knitted garments for recycling & fibre recovery. (Hall, Goldsworthy & Earley 2022)

    Read

  • Read: Broken Butterfly Wings

    Exploring the role of textile blends in the circular economy for recycling & disassembly. Paper led by Dr Cathryn Hall from her PhD research, with contributions from Laetitia Forst, Kate Goldsworthy & Becky.

    Read

  • Watch: T2C show trailer

    Short film about the Trash-2-Cash project, filmed at the Design Week 2018 event, Eindhoven, Holland.

    Watch

  • Read: Exhibition Brochure

    Dutch Design Week Eindhoven. Show brochure.

    Read

  • Listen: Trash-2-Cash. iTunes & Soundcloud podcast series

    Becky interviews science & industry partners from the EU Horizon 2020 consortium, asking how their work feeds into the field. The series ends with the UAL team reflecting on highlights from their Design Week show at Eindhoven; part of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Online Innovation Festival line up.

    LISTEN

  • Read: Perspectives on the Future of Polyester, medium.com

    Becky surveyed the views of multiple experts to create this short essay which looks at the future for polyester, in the face of climate emergency. Using what we have already produced, in the right contexts, is the conclusion to this timely piece which accompanied Becky’s 2019 UAL Inaugural Lecture.

    Read

  • Listen: Circular Design, Conscious Chatter, S02 Episode 101, podcast interview

    Becky talks to Kestrel Jenkins in this episode of Conscious Chatter. They go into the nitty gritty detail of the T2C project technology & methods, as well as talk more generally about how circularity works within the broader context of climate change.

    Listen
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“Using textile design approaches to keep polyester in use for as long as possible has become my mission. We can make durable, flexible and light materials, and we can recycle them. However, they operate within outdated and damaging systems which, whilst being profitable for industry, remain exploitative for workers and excessive in terms of over-production and overconsumption. We need design to create and test new, more equitable and socially balanced models.”

Becky, Social Design Institute, Meet the Researcher, link