Transition to a circular economy

‘In 2050, Flanders will be circular‘ is the vision of the Flemish government in its transversal policy document. Circularity means that materials are kept in the cycle as long as possible, taking into account their entire life cycle. In a circular economy, our materials are used and reused in a “cascading” manner, retaining their value and employability as much as possible. With this in mind, it is essential to first consider the reuse options, with their low energy consumption and thus limited emissions, before moving on to (mechanical and/or chemical) recycling.

Therefore, the research of TOP-atelier wanted to create more and better opportunities for reuse, and this for textile waste streams in Flanders. However, reuse of clothing, textile raw materials and other textile products through repair and/or upcycling is often considered as a niche activity, with limited potential for up-scaling. The designer/product developer is in fact dependent on customisation, and he/she remains strongly dependent on the available materials (fibres, fabric structures, patterns, motif, colours), with limited guarantees in terms of quality, volume and regularity of the inflow.

Nevertheless, upcycling seems to be catching on, with a shift from ‘niche‘ to ‘luxury‘. Also established clothing brands are increasingly using upcycling in their collections (e.g. Filippa K, ASOS Reclaimed Vintage or Reformed). In Flanders and Belgium, a lot of designers work with residual streams (Joseffa, Flag-bag, Adadore), sometimes from the second-hand circuit, but also with returns, samples and remaining stock of textile producers, which usually end up in the bin when the season of production in question comes to an end or the sales period and fairs are over.

Flanders, however, hardly has the necessary infrastructure to support the efforts of these designers and make their collections profitable, scalable and market-friendly. Wage costs are a major handicap here – it appears too expensive to hire an extra employee to help with the realisation of the creations (washing, ironing, cutting, stitching). The designers are forced to work on their own and are limited in the quantities they can process and deliver. The regular clothing workshops also charge prices that prove unattainable for designers in an upcycling approach. In addition, better coordination is needed in sorting the textile inflow, with an eye to the correct quality criteria of the source material.

Our project wanted to research and offer possible solutions through new partnerships, between the social economy (Kringwinkels, who sort the inflow), the designers and the classic clothing cycle. The Flemish clothing infrastructure is underused. Many ready-to-wear workshops and their machine parks are mainly used during periods of prototyping when stitching models and small series, but they regularly remain empty. There is, therefore, a lot of space and infrastructure available where designers, together with the employees of the relevant workshop, could work with residual flows of textiles and engage in re-manufacturing. This is how we breathe new life into our manufacturing industry and get the production flow going again – that too is circular economy.

In short, TOP-atelier became a shared enterprise, a collective research, between the collectors and sorters from the social economy, creative designers and product developers, and the regular clothing sector.

Experiment as focus

The focus in this research was on experimentation, including integrating new sorting criteria for the Kringwinkel shops, trying out new partnerships with clothing workshops, the VDAB, suppliers for textiles & clothing and looking for new techniques and/or related technologies to streamline all this, and of course trying out reuse, with attractive, usable and scalable designs.

The inflow also had to better meet their needs: a more innovative sorting system with specific criteria. When sorting men’s shirts, for example, the worn collars and cuffs do not appear to be a problem for reuse, but the strength of the back and front are essential. If these have yellowed or are too weak, the shirt is no longer eligible for the reuse circuit. Yet conventionally, it is precisely these elements that are considered when judging the piece.

To make all this happen, some designers joined this research, where they could count on the professional knowledge and know-how of the staff and the good infrastructure from the industry. After an open call we launched in early 2019, the designer(duos) La Gadoue, Paule Josephe, Studio AMA, Tropas and Triptiek joined to experiment with TOP studio for two years. Together with them, we came up with the lessons learned that we would like to share with you.

Mission

TOP (Textile switchOver Process)-atelier wants to offer the process of textile upcycling – from inferior residual flows to high-value product – as an opportunity for the Belgian clothing industry.

It does this through the following actions:

  • Demonstrate that upcycling can be profitable in Belgium;

  • Demonstrate that we can make a high-quality Belgian product from textile residual flows;

  • Developing a professional upcycling business model for the Belgian clothing companies.

Frederik Beyens

The beginning of TOP-atelier

During the TexUp project a few years ago, the various circular design and manufacturing processes with local textile waste streams were investigated. A group of designers was challenged to design products with discarded textiles from an Antwerp hotel.
From this we learned that more research and experimentation is needed for scaling up and marketing upcycling products. It became clear that local production is a must, but that there is not enough supply at the moment. When marketing upcycling products, the quality standards also need to be examined more closely. Also the sustainable collection and sorting of specific textile waste streams remains a challenge.

The thinking done during TexUp and the emergence of an enthusiastic movement around the reallocation of local textile residual flows resulted in a new project, namely “TOP” (Textile Conversion).

“TOP (Textile switchOver Process)-atelier”

TOP-atelier brings together not only designers, but also Flemish clothing companies and clothing sorters. This way, we can optimally work on the complexity of the sustainable and circular reallocation of local textile waste flows.

  • TOP-atelier builds a professional and smooth production chain for the realisation of new textile products.

  • We work with a business model, analyse and test new possibilities in practice. To this end, we work with various Flemish clothing manufacturers who make their specific know-how and machinery available.

  • We share our ‘lessons learned‘, with a view to innovating circular production processes.

  • We breathe new life into our manufacturing industry and initiate a new production flow. At the same time, we are raising awareness of waste management among consumers and businesses. We make them aware of their social responsibility and offer them tools to achieve a real change in behaviour.

On to a brighter and more circular future for our textiles.