When we hear recycled cotton, we see the recycling circle in our minds. You wear your garment, put it in the recycling bin, and new garments are made from it; post-consumer recycled cotton. But this is just one of the ways we can use recycled cotton. Pre-consumer recycled cotton is an essential step in closing the loop as well. During production, a considerable amount of fibres end up unused. These leftover fibres should and can be used in your new clothing!

How is the pre-consumer recycled cotton fabric made?

The first step in recycling is collecting leftover fibres from spinning, dyeing and weaving. If fabric scraps are collected, they must first be shredded down to cotton fibres. The fibres are then disentangled and aligned in a carding process. Combs make sure all fibres are facing the same way. The fibres can then be spun to create a new pre-consumer recycled yarn. Recycled fibres are shorter than virgin fibres and often need to be mixed with virgin fibres with a longer fibre length to keep a high-quality yarn