Spotlight on: Renewcell

Who is Renewcell?

Renewcell is a fast-growing Swedish textile recycling company with a unique technology on a mission to change the global textile industry for the better. They plan to recycle the equivalent of more than 1,4 billion t-shirts every year by 2030.

Their recycling technology breaks down used cotton and other cellulose-rich textiles and transforms them into a new, biodegradable raw material: Circulose® pulp. Those who work with Renewcell use it to make biodegradable virgin quality viscose or lyocell textile fibers. These can then become new clothes. So, basically, old clothes can become new clothes.

What is Circulose®?

CIRCULOSE® is a new material made by recycling cotton from worn-out clothes and production waste. It makes fashion circular. Brands use it to replace high impact raw materials like fossil oil and cotton in their textile products.

In their own words:

“Cellulose is the most abundant organic polymer in the world. It is what makes up the cell walls of most plants and trees. The purest cellulose found in nature is cotton.

Circulose® is a branded dissolving pulp that Renewcell makes from 100% textile waste with high cellulose content, such as worn-out cotton jeans and cotton production scraps. Dissolving pulp cellulose is used to make viscose, lyocell, modal, acetate other types of regenerated fibers (also called man-made cellulosic fibers). These fibers are then spun into yarns, woven or knitted into fabrics and finally cut and sewn into new high-quality textile products.

The only difference with Circulose® is that they are made from textile waste instead of new cotton, oil or wood.”

Why is Renewcell “innovative”?

There is a bit of a misconception that textile recycling generally means that we recycle fabrics back into fabric, like paper or glass. Honestly, being able to turn old textiles into new textiles isn’t a common practice. That’s because the Science behind it is really in its infancy.

Recycling textiles is also extremely challenging because so many clothes are made from blended fibres. You know those leggings you have which are a cotton poly blend? That’s what we’re talking about. Its really difficult to separate the cotton from the polyester, which means that often products like that go through a process called mechanical recycling, or “downcycling”, where they are shredded into stuffing or rags.

Renewcell is leading the way for chemical recycling, the process of being able to transform waste textiles into new textiles, and we’re proud to be partnering with them.

Why have Reskinned partnered with Renewcell?

Well if you’ve got this far and there’s still any ambiguity over why we think they’re so fantastic, let’s be perfectly clear: Renewcell are game-changers. We want to find more options for end of life textiles that can form a truly circular fashion future. Renewcell is an integral part of that future, and we couldn’t be prouder to be working together.