Sustainable Apparel Production from Recycled Fabric Waste

Abstract

Waste generation in the apparel industry is one of the unavoidable factors of the garment production. Cost saved in cutting (fabric) is the cost saved in the overall production of the garment. This is because; the cutting department decides the amount of fabrics utilized for production and for waste. Fabric approximately covers half of the garment cost, and is the major contributor to garment cost. This research work aims to validate the enterprise benefits by utilizing this waste fabric for the reproduction of the apparel fabric. As the world moves towards more an eco-friendly and sustainable production, the fashion and apparel industry also in the path, by producing organic material. This research is focused on recycling the waste fabric into fibers. The main aim is to develop new apparel product by using recycled fiber, yarn, fabrics. For this purpose, the cutting waste from the knitted garment manufacturing industries was collected and utilized for the recycling process. It was found that the fabrics had a reasonable amount of physical characteristics like dimensional stability, bursting strength, pilling and abrasion resistance. The fabrics were made into casual garments and cost-effectiveness study also performed on the developed garments. The results were promising that the developed garments from recycled fibers are cheaper than the garments developed from normal raw materials. It is also double-advantageous for the manufacturers by providing some earning out of the waste and also solves waste management and disposal issues.