Replacing Virgin Textiles by State of Art Circular Workwear Textiles

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Replacing Virgin Textiles by State of Art

Circular Workwear Textiles

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Master Thesis by Roos Anne Herder April 2021

Master Innovative Textile Development Academy of Creative Technologies Saxion University of Applied Sciences

Enschede, The Netherlands Thesis Coach: Gerrit Bouwhuis Second Reader: Carlos Kuhlmann

Project Signwear in collaboration with: Saxion research group Smart Functional Materials

Anton Luiken, Theresia Grevinga, Loes Rietman

Category Management Workwear & MIND in the name of the Ministry of Defence

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Preface

Before you lies the master thesis research “Project Signwear: Replacing Virgin Materials by State of Art Circular Workwear Textiles”. This thesis contributes to the Signwear project and undertaken at the request of the Dutch Ministry of Defence and the Saxion research group Sustainable & Functional Textiles. This research report is the result of a 7 months thesis project as part of the master program Innovative Textile Development at Saxion University of Applied Sciences. The research was difficult, especially under the circumstances of a global pandemic, but conducting extensive investigation has allowed me to answer the research question and give an overview of the state of the art in the circular workwear industry.

During this research I had the opportunity of working with inspiring people that share the same passion as me: creating a more sustainable and circular textile industry. It was a pleasure to share knowledge and learn from other people about sustainability and circularity. I want to thank the Dutch Ministry of Defence and my colleagues of the research group Sustainable & Functional Textiles giving me the opportunity to join the Signwear research project and for providing guidance in my research. Furthermore, all companies that participated in this research. Thank you for being open and sharing your circularity activities and views with me. I want to thank everyone that helped me along the way.

With special thanks to: Daisy van Groningen, Anton Luiken and Theresia Grevinga, thank you for the collaboration, talks and all the insights you gave me along the way. Gerrit Bouwhuis, thank you for the interesting conversations and guidance. Loes Rietman, thank you for all your positivity and Microsoft teams calls, that helped me feel less lonely during this pandemic. My teachers and classmates for inspiring me, challenging me during my master study. Last but not least I want to thank my family, my partner and friends for supporting me and believing in me.

I hope you enjoy your reading. Roos Anne Herder

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Summary

The textile trading system is based on the ‘take-make-use-dispose’ linear economic model: as high amounts of resources are utilized at low costs, the final products become waste after being used for a only short period. This creates an unbalanced system that has to change. A circular economy model can contribute to this change. This model aims to keep resources flowing for as long as possible, to generate the highest possible value throughout use, and to recycle them at the end of their life cycles. The Dutch Government has set the goal to become circular in 2050. However, textile products are complex and recycling techniques are in development. The Dutch government including the ministry of Defence is a significant user of textiles. Their workwear garments are not circular.

As a result the ministry has established the research project Signwear in collaboration with the Saxion research group Sustainable & Functional Textiles. Signwear aims to set up protocols, to investigate the (technical) conditions under which textile products that are used by the Ministry of Defence, can be considered circular. For this research, three workwear garments have been selected. Two operational garments, trousers Kmar and trousers Basic, a non-operational garment, a men shirt. The following research question has been formulated: How can the choice of alternative textiles – other than the textiles used in the selected worker and shirt of the Dutch Ministry of Defence – increase the circularity of the products?

Circular products are defined by slowing recourse loops (design for preserving product integrity), closing resource loops (recycling in design and design for recycling) and narrowing resource flows (reduce the environmental impact over the lifetime of the product). This research aims to provide the ministry of Defence of reliable information as a basis for future replacement of virgin produced textiles with state of art circular alternatives. On the condition that the environmental impact is lowered by the alternative use of textiles than the conventional garments.

This research started with a literature review that provided definitions of circular strategies, circular design guidelines, textile recycling and the role of workwear in the transition towards a circular economy.

The first method included disassembling of the garments and an interview with the ministry of defence on the garments’ functional requirements. The state of the art was identified by interviewing stakeholders in the workwear industry and understand their circular practices. Additionally, the stakeholders were asked to supply their latest developments in circular textiles. These materials were evaluated based on the most important physical properties. Therefore, the trousers were tested on, tensile strength, pilling, abrasion and fabric touch. The shirt samples were tested on pilling, abrasion and fabric touch. The samples that meet the requirements of the ministry of defence were evaluated on environmental impact.

It can be concluded that one sample meet the requirements of the trousers Basic and trousers Kmar. For the shirt, a suitable replacement has not been found due to the higher environmental impact and containing unrecyclable raw materials.

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The results of this study suggest that at the time writing, circular strategies are only in early development in the workwear industry. The ministry of Defence is a front runner when it comes the re-use, recycling and repurpose strategies. Future research should explore product life extension strategies and opportunities to decrease the weight in garments.

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List of Abbreviation

DMO Defence Material Organization GRS Global Recycle Standard BCI Better Cotton Initiative Kmar Royal Marechaussee

KPU Clothing and Personal Equipment Company (Kleding Persoonsgebonden Uitrusting) LCA Life Cycle Assessment

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List of Figures, Tables and Images

Figures

Figure 1 Timeline Circular Textile Industry (information in figure gathered from Rijksoverheid (2019). ... 1

Figure 2 Resource flows within the ministry of Defence based on personal communication (orange line represents a linear resource flow, blue represents a reuse product flow) ... 3

Figure 3 Circular strategies within the production chain, in order of priority Source: RLI 2015; edited by PBL ... 6

Figure 4 Design approaches for preserving product integrity received from Hollander (2018) ... 11

Figure 5 System boundaries ... 45

Figure 6 Overview of life cycle impact categories trousers ... 47

Figure 7 Overview of life cycle impact categories shirt ... 49

Figure 8 Sample shape and size for testing fabric touch ... 64

Figure 9 EMPA photographic standards for evaluation of pilling ... 65

Figure 10 overview of results fibre and yarn research trousers ... 68

Figure 11 overview of results fabric weight trousers ... 69

Figure 12 Results of fabric touch test of trousers samples ... 70

Figure 13 Overview of tensile strenght warp and weft trousers ... 74

Figure 14 Overview of fabric touch results shirt ... 76

Tables Table 1 Overview state of art recycling technologies for textile materials (Luiken, 2020) ... 9

Table 2 selected garments and their accompanying documents ... 17

Table 3 Expert interview companies or projects divided by topic ... 26

Table 5 Overview of benchmark samples and alternative materials for trousers Basic and trousers Kmar ... 38

Table 6 Overview of benchmark samples and alternative materials for Shirt ... 38

Table 7 Appendix locations of quality research methodology and results ... 39

Table 8 quality research results trousers ... 42

Table 9 quality research results shirt ... 42

Table 10 properties, care instructions of the input textile materials ... 43

Table 11 calculation of functional unit ... 45

Table 12 Overview state of art circular strategies in the Dutch workwear industry ... 50

Table 13 Overview of garment details ... 61

Table 14 Overview of results average, and deviation of fabric weight trousers ... 69

Table 15 overview of similar properties of trousers samples compared to the benchmark samples ... 71

Table 16 Overview of pilling results trousers ... 72

Table 18 Overview of abrasion results trousers ... 73

Table 20 Overview of tensile strenght warp and weft trousers ... 74

Table 21 overview of fibre and yarn research results shirt ... 75

Table 23 overview of similar properties of benchmark samples comared to alternative shirt materials ... 76

Table 25 overview pilling results shirt ... 77

Table 26 Abrasion resistance results shirt ... 78

Images Image 1 Overview of different components of trousers basic ... 19

Image 2 Overview of different components of trousers Kmar ... 21

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1. Introduction

1.1 Why a circular economy?

Since the onset of the industrial revolution, the economy has used natural resources and generated waste by production and consumption at an exceedingly rapid rate – one which has left an increasing and alarming negative impact on both the environment and the economy (Hollander, 2018; Gardetti, 2019, p. 4). Currently, the textile industry is operating beyond a healthy boundary. The textile trading system is based on the ‘take-make-use-dispose’ linear economic model: as high amounts of resources are utilized at low costs, the final products become waste after being used for a only short period (Gardetti, 2019, p. 4). Every year, the textile industry uses 98 million tons of non-renewable resources and 93 billion cubic litres of water a year. The input levels for resources are high, the lifetime of textiles is short, and recycling levels are low; this creates an unbalanced system (Ellen McArthur Foundation, 2017).

The most promising strategy is to decrease the speed at which natural resources are used and to limit the use or, ideally, exclude the use of non-renewable resources. This can be achieved by instituting a circular economy, a model promoted by the Ellen McArthur foundation. It aims to keep resources flowing for as long as possible, to generate the highest possible value throughout use, and to recycle them at the end of their life cycles (Hollander, 2018; Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2017; Kirchherr et al., 2017, p. 226).

The circular approach has gained both notoriety and widening political support in recent years (Fletcher et al., 2012, pp. 1–3; Niinimäki & Hassi, 2011, p. 1882). The European Commission has even drawn up a circular economy action plan, which includes a forward-looking agenda for achieving and accelerating the transformation toward a circular economy (European Commission, 2020). Furthermore, in the 2016 ‘Rijksbrede programma Nederland Circulair in 2050’, the Dutch government outlined how to transform the economy into a sustainable, fully circular economy by 2050. Based on this convention, the Dutch government developed a raw materials agreement in 2017 (Rijksoverheid, 2019). This agreement defined that the use of virgin textile materials should be decreased with 50% by 2030, and a fully circular economy should be established by 2050 (Dijksma & Kamp, 2016). Figure 1 displays an overview of the timeline. Environmental impact refers to reducing the CO2 impact on climate change.

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1.2 Signwear project

The Dutch governmental organizations, including the Ministry of Defence, is a significant user of textiles. At the time writing, the work clothes that have been acquired are not circular. The Category Management Workwear (Categorie Bedrijfskleding Rijk) and MIND (Military Innovation by Doing) in the name of the Ministry of Defence commissioned the Saxion research group Sustainable & Functional Textiles (S&FT) to investigate the (technical) conditions under which textile products that are used by the Ministry of Defence, can be considered circular. The research project, Signwear, aims to set up protocols and preconditions for design, choice of materials and traceability of circular work clothing that military use at the barracks, when travelling or during sports or on mission.The extensive project proposal of Signwear can be found in appendix 1.

Important to mention is that in September 2020, two master students started off with the Signwear project. These researches have different approaches. One student will be focussing on design for recycling by creating the ideal circular product with the main focus on circular pattern making and bonding technologies. This research will focus on state of the art with the main focus on textile materials.

1.2.2 Project Stakeholders

This thesis project is a collaboration between two parties: the S&FT research group and the Ministry of Defence. The departments that are involved in this project are described in this section.

Saxion research group Sustainable & Functional Textiles

The research group S&FT is located in Enschede, the Netherlands. They develop innovative concepts and products by practice oriented research in collaboration with companies, researchers and students. The research group divided their research practises into sustainable textiles and functional textiles. This research is part of the sustainable textile research area that investigates the opportunities and challenges for a circular textile industry (Saxion, 2021).

The Ministry of Defence

The Ministry of Defence is a Dutch governmental organisation located in The Hague. It is responsible for protecting the Netherlands, their overseas areas, and the human, financial, and material resources available for those purposes (Ministerie van Defensie, 2019). The Ministry of Defence’s mission is to ‘protect all that we as a nation cherish’ and to ‘fight for a world of freedom and security because we believe that everyone has the right to live in such a world’ (Ministerie van Defensie, 2019). The organization's origins date back to 1813 when the War and Navy Ministries were established. In 1959, these two ministries merged and formed the current Ministry of Defence (Ministerie van Defensie, 2019).

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Key activities

The Joint Support Command and the Defence Material Organization (DMO) are supportive departments that provide products and services. The Defence Material Organization department (DMO) is responsible for the purchase, maintenance, and sale of equipment for the Ministry. The Defence Material Organization department (DMO) consists of different boards.

The KPU coordinates and provides clothing and personal equipment for 42,000 military personnel in active service. At the end of the garments’ lifetimes, the DMO collects and discards them. The collected garments are then sent to the BIGA-groep.

BIGA groep

The Ministry of Defence is a forerunner in textile collection partly due to its cooperation with the BIGA-groep. The BIGA-groep is a Zeist-based organisation implementing the Work and Social Assistance Act. Its purpose is to sort the returned clothing and discarded military equipment of personnel who changed their military degree or ended their service. The group classifies the returned articles into different categories, and unused materials are inspected and directly returned to KPU – items such as flasket bags that can be reused are returned after cleaning. When KPU is unable to reuse the pieces, logos and emblems are removed by hand to make them unrecognizable as defence clothing. These items are then sent to Domeinen, which auctions off jackets, shoes, bags, belts, sweaters, and metal products such as burners that are not immediately recognisable as articles from the Ministry of Defence. The remaining garments are cut into pieces and sold to companies that use them to create new products. The flows of personal equipment are illustrated in Figure 2.

Figure 2 Resource flows within the ministry of Defence based on personal communication (orange line represents a linear resource flow, blue represents a reuse product flow)

The Clothing and Personal Equipment Company (KPU) BIGA-groep Unused articles Used articles ‘New’ purchased products ‘Use’ Phase Domeinen Re-usable articles Auction Recycling Take back Military in active service

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1.3 Problem statement

Field of research

This research was carried out in the field of workwear. Workwear is clothing that improves safety, hygiene, and comfort while working. The term ‘workwear’ covers garments of simple and typically durable construction (Rijkswaterstaat, 2017).

The Dutch ministry of Defence uses two types of workwear: operational and non-operational garments. Non-operational garments are those worn when mission, and operational garments are worn either off-mission or during-off-mission. A list of requirements determines the different workwear quality standards for operational and non-operational garments. Not only does every garment have its own list of requirements, but so do the individual components of those garments including zippers, buttons, and touch fasteners. The company that produces the garments must realize the quality standards as written in this document.

Initially, four different product groups were selected for this research: a jacket, men’s shirt, trousers, and a parka. These garments have been selected because other departments in the Dutch government use them, and the variations that make these items more sustainable or circular can be applied more widely as a result. Unfortunately, the initiated garments cannot all be researched due to a delay of garment returns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, only the non-operational light green and white men’s shirt, the operational (OPS) KMAR, and operational (OPS) Trousers Basic (woodland camouflage) are available for research.

Research Questions

How can the choice of alternative textiles – other than the textiles used in the selected worker and shirt of the Dutch Ministry of Defence – increase the circularity of the products?

1. What are the functional- and design needs and requirements of the trousers OPS basic, trousers OPS Kmar and men shirt?

2. Why are the products currently not circular?

3. What is state of the art circular garment design in the workwear industry?

4. What raw materials meet the functional- and design needs and requirements of the OPS basic, trousers OPS Kmar and men shirt?

5. What alternative raw materials can reduce the environmental impact of the garments?

Research Objective

The aim of this research was to provide the Dutch Ministry of Defence with reliable information as a basis for future replacement of virgin produced textiles with state of art alternatives. On the condition that replacing the garments with these materials lower the environmental impact. This together will contribute to an overview of textile materials in which both quality and environmental impact determine whether the materials are suitable as a replacement of workwear garments for the ministry of Defence.

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2. Theoretical Framework

The research begins with a review of scientific articles and publications sourced from online scientific databases such as Science Direct, Springer, Emerald, ResearchGate, and Google Scholar. Topics of research include recourse flows in a circular economy, circular strategies, circular design, textile recycling, and the role of workwear in the transition to a circular economy.

2.1 The three fundamental strategies

Based on studies by Stahel (2008) and Baungart & McDonough, Bocken et al. (2016) identified two fundamental strategies for cycling resources in a circular economy The first strategy is to slow the products and materials’ resource loops by applying Stahel (2008)’s product life extension principle. In other words, products should be maintained at their highest possible value, such as non-recycled garments that can be repaired. The second strategy is to close resource loops. This can be achieved by applying the cradle-to-cradle flow of materials as identified by Braungart & McDonough (2002).

This concerns reuse of materials through recycling.

1. Slowing resource loops (reuse): is about prolonged use and reuse of goods over time, through design of long life goods and product life extension

2. Closing resource loops (recycling): reuse of materials through recycling.

A supporting approach of these two strategies is resource efficiency or narrowing resource flows (Bocken et al., 2016). Resource narrowing contradicts the circular strategies of Stahel (2008) and Braungart et al. (2002), as this method is not based on the cycle of resources but on decreasing the resources used to produce and create products. The result of narrowing can be the same as slowing, however “slowing” refers to resources that have a relationship with time where “narrowing” accepts the speed of resources. Time is an important element in resource flow in the circular economy. Slowing decreases speed, where resource efficiency can increase the speed of resource flows, resulting in extremely limited overall savings (Hollander 2018; Bocken et al 2016). Therefore, this last strategy should be adapted in combination with other strategies.

Stahel (2008) and Braungart & McDonough (2002)’s strategies formed the basis of all academic study examining circular strategies, design, and business models. Research by Reike et al. (2018) analysed the data of 69 peer-reviewed articles and summarised the 10 most common circular strategies in literature, referred to as the 10R strategy. Research reports of the Dutch government often refer to the 9R framework, similar to the 10R strategy, described in the following section.

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2.2 Circular R-strategies

Many circular economy strategies, known as R-strategies, exist to keep raw materials in use for the most valuable amount of time. The R-strategies include most common perspectives and views on contributing to a circular economy. In this research, the R-list, developed at the request of the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment by Potting et al. (2017) and also known as the 9R framework, is represented in Figure 3. This framework helps stakeholders involved in circular transitions to implement circular propositions. A low R-number represents a high circularity strategy, and a high R-R-number represents a low circularity.

This thesis will use these 9R framework to understand and identify the state-of-the-art of circularity strategies applied in the Dutch workwear industry. Furthermore, recent studies of Morseletto (2020) and Shahbazi & Jönbrink (2020) will be used as supporting literature. Morseletto (2020) has studied how to achieve circular transition targets using the 9R framework of Potting et al. (2020). Shahbazi & Jönbrink (2020) combined a variation of the framework with design strategies.

The 9R strategies of Potting et al. (2017) are divided into three categories: smarter use product use and manufacture, extend lifespan of products and its parts, and useful application of materials. These categories define the main goals of the R-strategies to contribute to a circular economy.

Circular economy Strategies

Smarter product use and manufacture

R0 Refuse Make product redundant by abandoning its function or _{by offering the same function with a radically different} product

R1 Rethink Make products use more intensive (e.g. through sharing _{products, or by putting multi-functional products on the} market)

R2 Reduce Increase the efficiency in product manufacture or use by

consuming fewer natural resources and materials.

Extend lifespan of product and its parts

R3 Re-use Re-use by another consumer of discarded product which

is still in good condition and fulfils its original function

R4 Re-pair Repair and maintenance of defective product so it can

be used with its original function

R5 Refurbish _{Restore an old product and bring it up to date}

R6 Remanufacture Use parts of discarded product in a new product with

the same function

R7 Repurpose Use discarded product or its part in a new product with

a different function Useful application of

materials

R8 Recycle Process materials to obtain the same (high grade) or

lower (low grade) quality

Linear economy _R9 _Recover

Incineration of materials with energy recovery

Figure 3 Circular strategies within the production chain, in order of priority Source: RLI 2015; edited by PBL Increasing circularity Rule of thumb: Higher level of circularity = fewer natural resources and less environmental pressure

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Useful application of materials (R8-R9)

This group represents the end-of-life phase and closing the loop by Recycling (R8) and Recovery (R9) of materials (Shahbazi & Jönbrink, 2020, p. 3679).

- Recover (R9) Potting et al. (2017) explains Recover (R9) as incinerating materials to recover energy.

Recovery means burning materials forever to recover energy. Incineration is an inexpensive process. It is actually beneficial to create and incinerate inexpensive products to return the investment. As a result, energy recovery is superior to the other R-strategies (Morseletto, 2020, p. 3).

- Recycle (R8) The second lowest is recycling (R8). Recycling is defined by Potting et al. (2020) as

processing materials to obtain the same (high grade) or lower (low grade) quality. Recycling of material is standard in many sectors. Historically, recycling has been used to ensure access to and supply of raw materials. The textile industry is a special case, however, where recycling is the exception rather than the rule (Roos, Sandin, Peters, Spak, Schwarz Bour, et al., 2019, p. 13). Interestingly, recycling is a strategy where most governances target on, including the Dutch Government (Morseletto, 2020, p. 3).

Extending the lifetime and its parts (R7-R3)

Multiple researchers have identified that increasing the lifetime of textile products is the most beneficial for the environment (Hollander, 2018; Braungart & McDonough, 2002; Bocken et al., 2016). Extending the lifespan of products and its parts can be achieved by reusing, repairing, refurbishing, remanufacturing and repurposing. These strategy focusses on recirculation and closing the loop of components and parts of a garment (Shahbazi & Jönbrink, 2020, p. 3679).

- Repurpose (R7) The term Repurpose refers to using something for a different purpose to the one for

which it was originally intended (Cambridge University Press, 2021a). For example, during a visit at the BIGA group, zippers were taken out of the garment and used as a reinforcement material in architecture. Morseletto (2020) describes that repurposing as an additional step to the other strategies. It has a disadvantage it is hard to trace materials that are repurposed.

- Remanufacture

(R6)

Remanufacture is defined as using parts of discarded products in a new product with the same function.

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processes are applied that bring the garment back to its original function or quality requirements.

- Repair (R4) Repair and maintenance of defective product so it can be used again with its original

function. Lifetime or long-term maintenance contracts could represent the signal of maximum durability (Morseletto, 2020).

Smarter product use and manufacture

This category includes Refuse (R0), Rethink (R1) and Reduce (R2).

R0 and R1 are strategies that aim to decrease or exclude the consumption of materials (Potting et al., 2017).

- Reduce (R2) Reduce is a widely applicable strategy. It aims for understanding the real minimum

recourses that are needed to carry out a process. It includes restoring, reducing and avoiding impact in the area of raw materials & sourcing, manufacturing, product use and operation (Shahbazi & Jönbrink, 2020).

- Rethink (R1) Potting et al. (2017) describes this strategy as making a product use-intensive and

multifunctional. Morseletto (2020) and Shahbazi & Jönbrink (2020) states that rethinking is part of moving from a linear way of thinking towards a circular way of thinking and includes setting targets to achieve the other strategies. Shahbazi & Jönbrink (2020) adds that it also includes connecting the different strategies and create a plan to achieve them.

- Refuse (R0) Refuse is about excluding the use and consumption of materials (Potting et al., 2017).

Shahbazi & Jönbrink (2020) claims that refuse includes physical products becoming redundant by other products that offer the same function. Often these are totally different products and/or technologies than the conventional product.

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2.3 Overview of state of art recycling possibilities

This section gives an explanation of the most common known recycling methods. Recycling is a process used to close the loop of resource flows in a circular economy. For textiles there are three known recycling technologies: mechanical recycling, recycling by extrusion and chemical recycling. Table 1 overviews the evidence that recycling methods are not suitable for all textile materials yet and still in development. Mechanical recycling is the most developed process. This process can recycle natural and synthetic materials including blends. However, the output materials are lower quality than the input materials due to loss of fiber length. Chemical recycling and recycling by extrusion are in development. However, chemical recycling and recycling by extrusion are complex and expensive processes that needs pure materials.

Mechanical recycling Recycling by extrusion Chemical recycling Process steps - Sorting

- Shredding - Fine opening - Carding - Spinning - Sorting - Washing (optional) - Shredding - Drying - Feeding - Extrusion, filtration - Pelletizing - Spinning by extrusion - Drawing - Sorting - Shredding

- Degrading polymer into monomer

- Converting monomer back into polymer

- Wet spinning - Drawing

Materials to be processed

Natural and synthetic fibres including: - Wool (TRL 8-9), - Polyacrylic (TRL 8), - Blends (TRL 7) - Cotton (TRL 7) - Viscose (TRL7), - Polyester (TRL 7), - Polyamide (TRL 6), - PP/PE (TRL 6)

Thermoplastic polymers including: - PP/PE (TRL 8) - Polyester (TRL 7), - Polyamide (TRL 7),

Natural and synthetic fibres including: - Polyamide (TRL (9 PA6) - Polyester (TRL 8) - Cotton (TRL 5-6), - Viscose (TRL 5-6),

Advantages Commercially available process for many _fibres Fibre length can be adjusted Fibre length can be adjusted Disadvantage Loss of fibre length due to shredding Complex and expensive process _{Pure material is required} Complex and expensive process _{Pure material is required} Table 1 Overview state of art recycling technologies for textile materials (Luiken, 2020)

Recycling by extrusion

Extrusion is remelting textiles made of pure polymers. The process does not go along with textiles that contain any pollution like coatings, dirt, soils and stains. Polymers that cannot be melted like, or blends containing different raw materials cannot be recycled this way. For example, elastane cannot be melted and a blend of Nylon 6 or Nylon 6.6 are made of different raw materials (Roos, Sandin, Peters, Spak, Schwarz, et al., 2019).

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Mechanical recycling

Mechanical recycling is a process in which textile materials, woven knits, or non-woven or yarns are torn apart to recover the fibres. The fibre properties remain intact except for the fibre length (Roos, Sandin, Peters, Spak, Schwarz, et al., 2019). Prior to the start of the process, all trims, including buttons, zippers, and metal and plastic parts, are removed. The textile material is then cut into pieces and placed into the tearing machine. The mechanical movement of two rollers with pins pulls the textile apart (Luiken & Brinks, 2020).

Currently, it is often not possible to produce long fibres from the mechanical recycling process, and the output fibres are too short to spin new yarns. Therefore, the mechanically recycled fibres are mainly used for non-woven applications. In the future, mechanical recycling will focus more heavily on supplying fibres for yarn spinning. The input materials should have a high fibre length, which will result in higher-quality yarns that are strong, fine, and which can be more diversely applied (Luiken & Brinks, 2020).

Furthermore, sorting the input materials by colour can reduce the environmental impact of mechanical recycling. As a result, the dyeing manufacturing step becomes can be disregarded (Roos, Sandin, Peters, Spak, Schwarz, et al., 2019).

Chemical recycling

Textile materials are made of long molecular chains called polymers. In chemical recycling, the polymer chains are broken down into monomers by depolymerization. Additives including dyes and finishes are removed through a purification process prior to the depolymerization process (Luiken & Brinks, 2020).

Chemically recycled Nylon 6 and polyester polyethylene terephthalate, also known as polyester, are commercially available at a limited scale. The input material for recycled Nylon often comes from carpeting, fishing nets, and industrial waste. Recycled PET often comes from food packaging, and pre-consumer industrial waste (Roos, Sandin, Peters, Spak, Schwarz, et al., 2019).

Chemical recycling of cellulose fibres is achieved through a pulping process followed by a wet spinning process. This process outputs regenerated cellulosic fibres; recycled cellulose REFIBRATM _{has been} commercially available since 2020. This is a fibre blend of 20% recycled lyocell fibres from cotton and 80% regenerated fibres from forest fibres (Roos, Sandin, Peters, Spak, Schwarz, et al., 2019; Luiken & Brinks, 2020). Another example is Saxcell fibre, a regenerated virgin textile from chemical-recycled cotton waste. This process is compatible with the existing lyocell production processes. The Saxcell fibre has a higher strength than virgin cotton, though this process is still at a pilot scale and needs investments to scale up (Saxcell, 2020).

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Luiken & Brinks (2020) stated that chemical recycling will become the most important recycling technology for textiles because the output materials possess properties comparable to virgin materials.

2.4 Circular Design

In a circular system, the absolute end-goal of sustainable design is to create products without waste and to focus on preserving added economic value during and across multiple use cycles (Hollander, 2018). Several design approaches contribute to a circular product. This section introduces design for preserving product integrity and recycling.

Design for preserving product integrity

Hollander et al (2018) developed a design methodology to help industrial designers design long-life products or extend the lifetime of products to support the circular economy. An overview of these approaches is illustrated in Figure 4. Interestingly, some of the design approaches concur with the circular 9R strategies, including repair (R4), recontextualising repurposing (R7), refurbishment (R5), and remanufacturing (R6). This figure also makes new approaches visible, namely design for emotional durability, design for physical durability, design for maintenance, and design for upgrading. These approaches were defined by Hollander (2018) as follows:

- Emotional durability is the ability of products to remain wanted by users over a long period of time.

-

Physical durability is the ability of products to withstand wear, stress, and environmental degradation as well as remain able to fulfil all physical functions for which it was designed over a long period of time.

-

Maintenance is the performance of inspection and/or servicing tasks at regular intervals to retain a product’s functional capabilities and/or cosmetic condition

-

Upgrading is the process of enhancing, relative to the original design specifications, a product’s functional capabilities and/or cosmetic condition.

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Design for recycling

Design for recycling in the garment industry includes designing products compatible with existing recycling processes, keeping in mind that the recycling outputs are economically viable and can be produced at a low cost (Roos, Sandin, Peters, Spak, Schwarz, et al., 2019). Some examples of this are design for disassembly and mono material design.

2.5 The role of workwear in the transition towards a circular economy

Utrecht University performed an analysis requested by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management of The Netherlands on the state of the Dutch Mission Oriented System, which aims to achieve a circular textile industry by 2050. This research created a roadmap of technologies, innovations, and parties involved in the transition to a circular textile industry that will facilitate the Dutch government’s mission to create a fully circular textile industry by 2050. The research concluded that the transition to a circular textile economy is challenging, and that both greater demand and supply for circular textiles must be established.

To accelerate the circular textile transition, the workwear garment industry should create demand because these companies are far more transparent than fashion companies. The government must become the most demanding customer in the workwear sector in terms of recycled content. Furthermore, the research recommended the establishment of a mandatory extended user responsibility (EPR).

An EPR is a tool used for stimulating and empowering recycling. Producers receive financial or physical responsibility for disposing of goods after use. For some product categories, like packaging, an EPR is mandatory; however, for textiles, this is not yet the case (Roos, Sandin, Peters, Spak, Schwarz, et al., 2019). Currently, the Dutch government is working to implement an extended user responsibility scheme (State Secretary for Infrastructure and Water Management, 2020). Branch organizations INretail and Modint are developing a voluntary extended producer responsibility. In spring of 2021, the state secretary for infrastructure will launch a proposal for infrastructure and water management (INretail et al., 2019). However, Utrecht University’s research found that these voluntary EPR schemes do not lead to changes in the industry. It is important to include higher R-strategies and to not focus solely on recycling. This often results in low-quality recycling with low environmental gain. Current EPR strategies focus heavily on recycling (R8) and less so on the higher circular strategies of re-use (R3) and prevention (R0).

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3. Research Approach

This thesis project will focus on mapping the different components of the garments and understand the stakeholders involved. Based on these outcomes expert interviews are performed to compare the state of the art in the circular workwear industry with circular strategies. The workwear companies are then asked to send their recent developments on circularity. The received textiles were tested on quality. A Life Cycle Analysis is only performed on the materials that meet the selected quality requirements of workwear garments for the Ministry of Defence. The Modint Ecotool has been used for impact data and calculating the environmental impact categories. Textiles that meet the requirements of the ministry of Defence and lower the environmental impact are considered as suitable replacements.

This chapter explains the qualitative and quantitative research methods that are used to answer the main research question and sub questions. The qualitative research includes analysis of the conventional garments, semi-structured interviews with experts in the field, and some of visual assessments of textile quality research. The quantitative methods include quality research and life cycle analyses.

Analysis of Technical Requirements

To answer research question 1 and 2, the garments are torn with a knife to identify the different components that are needed to create a shirt or a trouser. Trousers OPS Basic and Trousers OPS Kmar are operational garments with stricter safety standards than non-operational garments. Therefore, an interview was conducted on December 17th_{2020 with the person responsible for the List of requirements of operational garments. The} formation of the list of requirements including choice of textile materials of the garments and end of life was discussed. Based on this first research step, stakeholders were identified and the interviewees were approached.

Expert Interviews

Multiple stakeholders were interviewed including textile producers, haberdashery suppliers, workwear companies, and mechanical and chemical recycling experts. The interviewees were selected based on their sustainability or circularity goals, participation at NEN Circular textile working group. The interview questions mainly focus on the ‘sustainable/circular’ collections and activities of the companies. The interview topics include circular strategies, circular design, materials, environmental impact and haberdashery. To answer sub question two, expert interviews with mechanical and chemical recycling experts were performed on the recyclability of the garments and its components.

Recycling To understand the state of the art recycling possibilities, R. Veldhoven from Wolkat and Dr. J. Oelerich, Associate Professor Sustainable Textiles, on the poly cotton breakthrough project at Saxion research group ‘Sustainable & Functional Textiles, were interviewed. The results are used to determine the circularity of the conventional

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- Wolkat is a group of seven textile recycling companies. The company collects, sorts, recycles, and reproduce textiles. Remi Veldhoven explained the process and the input and output materials.

- Jens Oelerich explained the state of the art of cotton polyester recycling.

To answer the third research sub-question: ‘what is state of the art of circular garment design in the workwear industry?’ the following interviews were conducted. The companies and the interviewees remain anonymous in this publication. Contact the author of this thesis for more information about the companies and interviewees.

Workwear Workwear (W) companies W-1, W-2 and W-3 are interviewed to understand the sustainable workwear market.

- The interview with workwear company W-1 was conducted with the product specialist workwear. The questions were focused on the development of their sustainable collection.

- The goal of workwear company W-2 is to be fully circular and become the most sustainable workwear company on the market. The main focus of the interview was, a project focused on developing recycling and production technologies in a closed chain for polyester workwear.

- Workwear company W-3 has been approached because they aim to be 95% circular by 2025. The interview was conducted with the sustainability manager.

Corporate fashion Two companies where interviewed to attain an understanding of state of the art design in corporate fashion and shirts (CF).

- The interview was conducted with the CEO of workwear company CF-1. CF-1 is a corporate fashion company specializing in mechanical recycling. The interview mainly focused on their circular collection.

- CF-2 creates men’s shirts and t-shirts that promote buying less, washing less, and wearing longer due to their antibacterial, wrinkle-proof, and water-repellent finishing. The interview was conducted with the textile engineer product manager.

Textiles Two textile production (TP) companies were interviewed to understand supply and demand in the textile industry.

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- TP-1 was approached to gain more insight into state of the art design in textile workwear. The interview was conducted with the workwear product manager; among other subjects, the development of their sustainable workwear textiles collection was discussed.

- TP-2 is a textile producer that focuses on reducing its environmental footprint and is actively engaged in innovation. The interview was conducted with

TP-2’s research and development (R&D) manager.

Closures & interlining

Furthermore, to gather information on state of the art haberdashery (H), interlining company H-1 and closure producer and supplier H-2 were interviewed.

- In both the trousers and shirt, interlining was present. Therefore, an interview with the CEO of H-1 was conducted.

- As the shirt and the worker both have closures in their designs, an interview was conducted with the sales manager for workwear and personal protective equipment at H-2.

Quality Research

The companies interviewed supplied the raw materials for quality research. Samples have been received from

W-3, CF-1, CF-2, TP-1 and TP-2. To determine whether one of the interviewee-supplied fabrics is a suitable

replacement for the current garments, quality research was performed. The most important quality and comfort properties outlined during the interview with the interview with the Ministry of Defence were discussed and based on those outcomes, tested. This research step aims to define the product specifications of each garment to gain insight into the garment’s raw materials in preparation for the life cycle analysis. Furthermore, only garments that met the quality standards were tested on environmental impact in the Life Cycle Analysis.

Life Cycle Analysis

This research step defines what environmental impact categories a design change could potentially lower to answer sub-question 4. A life cycle analysis (LCA) was used to analyse the factors that contribute to the workwear garments’ environmental impact.

An LCA is a well-developed and widely used model that quantifies all relevant emissions, resources, health, and environmental impacts (Dong & Hauschild, 2017). In this research, a one-day LCA was performed in collaboration with expert A. Luiken to gain approximate insights into the environmental impact of the workwear garments. This was calculated using the Modint Ecotool, an excel-based tool that measures the environmental

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In short, when the raw materials of the workwear garments are filled in, the environmental impact is calculated and expressed on a ‘scorecard’. This scorecard provides the calculated results of an environmental impact for each life cycle phase of the workwear garment, indicated the following terms:

- CO2 (kg CO2-eq.) - Land (m2₎

- Water (liter) (Bijleveld & Bergsma, 2012, p. 1).

At the end of the life cycle analysis, the results are compared and to determine which textile choices have a lower impact than the conventional textiles used in the garments of the ministry of defence. A reduced impact on CO2 is the decisive factor as the Dutch government aims to reduce this impact.

Discussion and Conclusion

The final phase of this research aims to answer the main research question. First, the results of the previous phases are discussed in this chapter, followed by a conclusion and reflection on the master thesis. Furthermore, this research makes recommendations for the ministry of Defence and future research in the Signwear project.

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4. Results

The aim of this project was to provide the ministry of Defence of reliable information as a basis for future replacement of virgin produced textiles with state of art alternatives. This research done throughout this thesis project could be beneficial for the ministry of Defence and their transition to circular workwear garments. The goal of this project was to find state of art textiles that meet the functional requirements of the selected workwear garments and lower the environmental impact.

This chapter presents the results of the research. First, the functional properties and components of the workwear garments are presented, then the interview results on state of art in the workwear industry followed by quality research of state of art raw materials. The result chapter ends with a Life Cycle Analysis of the raw materials that meet the quality requirements of the ministry of Defence.

4.1 Functional Properties and Components

This section aims to answer sub question one and two. To identify the components and stakeholders involved, the OPS trousers basic and OPS trousers Kmar were disassembled and discussed. To understand the functional requirements per garment, information was gathered by analysing the list of requirements and discussions with the ministry of Defence. An interview with the system specialist clothing and equipment, responsible for the List of requirements of operational garments, was performed on December 17th_{, 2020. Furthermore, this section} explains why the garments are not circular at the moment.

Product introduction

Table 2 summarizes the main properties of the four garments. The two images of the blouse were obtained from the list of requirements and the images of the trousers come from the Defence website. The first garment – shirt, long sleeve, men, Army – will be referred to as Men’s Shirt, Shirt, or S. The trousers, OPS KMAR, are also referred to as Kmar Trousers or K. Trousers, and the OPS Basic will be referred to as Trousers Basic or B.

Shirt, long sleeve, men, army Trousers ops kmar Trousers ops basic

Document garment 103744/06 105114/01 102812/16

Document textile 103748/07 105114/01 102681

Textile material 60% combed cotton _{40% polyester}

50% cotton 38% polyester

2% elastane

65% cotton, 35% polyester

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Trousers Basic

The OPS trousers basic list of requirements 102812/16 is standard combat clothing. The combat uniform in camouflage pattern is worn by all soldiers of the Royal Netherlands Army, Royal Air Force and Royal Military Police. Image 1 shows the different components of trousers Basic.

Origin The trousers date back to the 1980s and 1990s when there was still conscription in the Netherlands and is part of the standard basic personal equipment for soldiers. A simple quality was then chosen because of the large number of people who needed to be issued the clothing. The purchase price is around 25 euros per pair. The original basic trousers are composed of 300 g/m2_{textiles. The system specialist clothing and equipment explained, it is} work clothing, so it must be able to take withstand beating or scratching. Later, a garment of 200 g/m2_{textile was created. From the military personnel, KPU received feedback that the} lighter variant is pleasant to wear. That is likely because the trousers drape better and are less stiff than the 300 g/m2_.

Lifespan Following the list of requirements, the lifespan should be at least two years if the trousers are worn at least three days a week and cleaned frequently.

Textile The fabric of the camouflage trousers is made of fibre blended cotton/polyester twill weave of 300 g/m2_{and a 21 Nm x 18 Nm yarn count. Most workwear is made of cotton polyester} due to its versatile properties. Cellulose has hydrophilic properties and is therefore able to transport moisture, which creates low electrical charging that improves wearing comfort. Polyester improves the tear strength, abrasion resistance, and dimensional stability and makes washing and care easier. The fabric comes in a total of four colours that create a camouflage pattern. The base colour is sand, the colour in which the fabric is piece-dyed. It is estimated that, after dyeing, three colours – green, brown, and black – are screen-printed onto the fabric.

Interlining A woven, polyester-coated interlining is placed in the waistband and pocket flaps to increase strength. The interlining material could not be separated easily from the garment and is therefore identified by means of extrusion. Furthermore, a non-woven interlining was found at the seam of the pockets.

Closures Four types of closures had been used in the trousers basic: two touch fasteners, four snap fasteners, two buttons, and one zipper. To adjust the size of the waist, two Touch fasteners were placed at the waist of the garment. The loop side of the tape was two times longer than

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the hook side of the Touch fasteners. The snap fasteners were found on two pocket flaps placed on the sides of the trousers. One green button was placed to close the hip pocket and the other to close the fly. Furthermore, a small elastic green component has been found that was not mentioned on the plan of requirements.

Bonding The sewing yarn used to attach all the components to each other is a polyester yarn. The garments and its components were stitched in a way that considerable effort was required to disassemble them.

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Trousers Kmar

The operational (OPS) trousers basic 105114/01 is used for general police, border security and security duties worn by the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee (Kmar). Image 2 shows the different components of trousers Kmar.

Origin Developed in 2015, the design of the OPS Kmar pants is quite new. The marechaussee that wear the Kmar trousers operate differently from the wearers of the OPS trousers basic. The trousers are used for general police, border security, and security tasks. The marechaussee, also known as the military police, move less on the ground and therefore the textile used could be of a lighter quality. Furthermore, the design changed because the marechaussee wanted to look tougher and have more of a military police appearance. The uniform is therefore inspired by the French Gendarmerie Nationale.

Lifespan Following the list of requirements, the lifespan is > 2 years with intensive use. Since the release of the Kmar trousers, the feedback KPU was so far positive and no complaints have been received. The wearers, especially females, liked the shape of the garment due to the waistband.

Textile The Kmar trousers are made of a 250 g/m2 twill weave and 32 Nm x 22 Nm yarncount. The fabric is made of a fibre blend containing cotton, elastane, and polyester. Elastane was added to the textile material for wear comfort and a better fit to the body.

Interlining A nonwoven, polyester-coated interlining is placed in the waistband and pocket flaps to increase strength. The interlining material could not be separated easily from the garment and is therefore identified by means of extrusion.

Closures Two types of buttons are used.

Haberdashery The design has elastic bands at the waist and around the ankles. These elastic bands

Bonding The sewing yarn used to attach all the components to each other is a polyester yarn. The garments and its components were stitched in a way that considerable effort was required to disassemble them.

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Shirt

List of requirements, 103744/06 describes the requirements for long-sleeved shirts for men of the Dutch armed forces. Image 3 shows the different components of the shirt.

Origin The shirt is mainly worn in the summer and winter for both official occasions and military service. The garment is worn with a tie or bow. The shirts are rarely worn under extreme climatic conditions. The shirt can be described as a men’s shirt made of a simple plain weave quality.

Lifetime Following the list of requirements, the lifespan should be at least two years if the product is worn at least two to three days a week, assuming that the items are maintained according to the prescription.

Textile The shirt is made of a 60% combed cotton and 40% polyester plain weave. Both fibres are intimate blend, ring-spun, and twined 2-ply. This is a simple and standard fabric quality for a shirt. The shirt was received in two colours, green and white.

Interlining The interlining is the most technical aspect of the garment. It consists of multiple layers placed in different directions. The parts that are provided with an adhesive lining must not show any blisters or creases and must retain their shape throughout their life. Despite the interlining, the parts must maintain a soft and flexible handle (touch) for the benefit of wearing comfort.

Closures Buttons are used to close the garment.

Haberdashery Collar stays are placed in the collar. These are made of plastic material and sewn in the collar.

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Functional properties

The analysis of the list of requirements and the interview with the Ministry of Defence provided an understanding of the most important properties. The interview showcased that the physical properties are considered most important, and that the detailed information on yarn count, fabric count, and raw material specifications were considered less important. The interview mainly focused on performance and comfort properties. Furthermore, it revealed the relevance of colourfastness and fastness of trouser IR values. This research focuses on the physical properties and comfort properties and does not analyse IR values or colourfastness.

In terms of lifespan, the system specialist clothing and equipment explained that it is difficult to estimate how long a pair of trousers lasts, as this varies greatly among individuals. The system specialist clothing and equipment explained that it depends on both individual behaviour and job function: the Ministry of Defence is a logistics organisation, so some personnel wear their trousers in the field, while others wear them when behind a computer. This makes it difficult to definitively state the length of time people use them; it could be for three years or ten depending on these factors.

Circular strategies

The three fundamental circular strategies are 1) slowing resource loops by designing long life products and for product-life extension, 2) closing resource loops by designing for recycling and recycling in design, and 3) resource efficiency. This section discusses the lifetime of the garments and the Ministry of Defence’s main circular activities in collaboration with the BIGA-groep.

At the end of life, garments are distributed to the BIGA group. The BIGA-groep receives garments when military personnel no longer wear them. These garments are then sorted based on product category and raw materials. The articles are categorized for re-use (R3), repurposing (R7), recycling (R8), or recovering (R9).

Re-use includes garments that remain in good condition and are re-used by military employees. Repurpose includes selling discarded products or part of the products to other companies. These products were initially designed for military personnel. The discarded products or parts of the products are now used for another function than what they were designed for.

Selling raw materials for recycling is also part of the ministries’ circular strategies. The garments are cut into pieces and sold to companies that create new products with them. It is only considered recycling when textile products are made of these materials. When other products are made of these garments, it is considered repurposing. In addition, a small percentage is selected for recovering.

Creating long-life products and extending products’ lifespans are important strategies for keeping raw materials in use and decreasing garments’ environmental impacts. The ministry of defence aims to

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purchase products that have a certain lifetime, which is stated in the list of requirements. However, it is important to know the lifetime and most importantly to know what influences the end of the lifetime. Strategies that mainly focus on extending the lifetime of products are higher R-strategies. Currently, the ministry mainly focuses on low R-strategies. Applying higher R-strategies, including the aim to slow recourse loops (Re-pair R4, Refurbish R5, Remanufacture R7), will increase the level of circularity. The ministry should focus more heavily on these strategies. This method uses fewer natural recourses and decreases environmental pressure.

Circularity of the garments

Based on the theoretical framework and the disassembling of the garments, the following reasons were found for why the garments are not considered circular:

- The lifetime reducers are not known.

- The garments do not contain recycled fibres or materials.

- The garment is made of fibre blends; therefore, materials can be processed by mechanical recycling. However, the profitability of this is questionable.

• The different components of the garment are difficult to disassemble and are made of different raw materials. For recycling, these haberdashery materials should either be made of the same material as the textile or made to be easily disassembled.

• The interlining materials create multiple layers that are bonded by glue. These parts must be cut out for recycling.

- Not all raw materials in the garment are known, and recycled raw materials are most valuable when the composition is known.

- Elastane is a component of the textile. This material has no potential in textile recycling and does not align with a circular economy.

- The different components of the garment are difficult to disassemble. To ease recycling, these haberdashery materials should either be made of the same material as the textile or made to be easily disassembled.

- Components that are not within the plan of requirements are added by the supplier. In a circular economy, the raw materials that compose the garments are known, and no extra materials are added. This can cause major issues due to the sensitivity of chemical recycling or recycling by extrusion.

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4.2 Interviews state of art circular workwear

This section presents the expert interviews. Interviews were performed to get an understanding of the state of the art of circular practises within the workwear industry. In this section a summary of the 10 interviews are briefly described per topic (Table 3) . The topics include recycling, workwear suppliers, haberdashery suppliers, and workwear textile manufacturers. The companies were selected based on their sustainability or circularity activities or strategies mentioned on their website. All interviews were conducted through Microsoft teams, recorded and then summarized. Also, companies have been asked to send samples of their latest developments. Received samples are tested on quality in chapter 4.3.

Topic Workwear

Operational Corporate Fashion Shirts Textiles Haberdashery Recycling

Companies/projects W-3 W-2 W-1 CF-2 CF-1 TP-1 TP-2 H-2 H-1 Wolkat Poly-Cotton Breakthrough

Table 3 Expert interview companies or projects divided by topic

4.2.1 Operational Workwear Suppliers

This section summarizes the results of the interviews with operational workwear suppliers W-1, W-2 and W-3.

Product specialist workwear W-1, November 18th₂₀₂₀

What improving sustainability means for W-1: improving longevity and decreasing the environmental impact without compromising on quality. The demand for circular garments in tenders increases. As there are no standards regarding circular design, they attempted it themselves. As a result, they launched their sustainable collection at the end of 2019.

W-1 had an environmental product declaration (EPD) carried out by an independent institute. In collaboration with TP-1, they compared the environmental impact of the sustainable collection with previous products. They saved 95% on water and an average of 45% on CO2 emissions due to the use of other raw materials. They also applied so-called ranger rolling, an army packing technique that needs less space, which ensures that 25% more products can be transported at one time to save on energy.

The product specialist workwear reported that the company has lately been focusing on making adjustments and concessions to create a more circular design. For instance, they chose not to apply reflecting details to their garments because they are hard to recycle. Instead, they switched to polyester details that also reflect but did not meet a standard for high visibility workwear. Furthermore, they chose to use folding techniques instead of buttons or zippers to decrease the amount of required materials. Additionally, they have used the production textile waste as filling material for example comfort pads.

On the other hand, the product specialist workwear questions whether some workwear garments can be circular. Often dirt, paint and other substances damage the garment and have to be removed before recycling.

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They were aware that using mono materials eases the recycling process. It is possible to create garments fully made of cotton or polyester including yarns, haberdashery, and fabric. product specialist workwear stated that the consumer, however, does not want to wear garments made of 100% cotton. Their customers think it is too heavy and too warm. Customers do not want to wear garments made of 100% polyester either, they think it will cause sweating and question the comfort.

Instead, the product specialist workwear mentioned that W-1 creates garments made of raw materials with less environmental impact. For their sustainable collection for craftsman – and by extension, the worker – they used recycled PET bottles and undyed cotton to decrease water use. They also used so called e.dye to colour polyester which requires less water. The colour is applied by mixing rPET or PET granulate with Masterbatch colours. After extrusion this results in a coloured filament yarn. As a result, no reductive cleaning is necessary. This method used 85% less water, 90% less harmful chemicals, and resulted in 12% fewer CO2 emissions than traditional piece dyeing (EPD International AB, 2019).

Interestingly, other garments did consist of elastane to create a four-way stretch for comfort despite their admittance that elastane is difficult to recycle.

Applied circular strategies by W-1:

Reduce - Reduction of environmental impact by using recycled polyester and Tencell. - Dyeing of polyester yarn only to reduce water use

- E.dye for reduction of water use, chemicals and CO2 emissions.

Repurpose - Treat production (pre-consumer) wastes appropriately for filling material for example comfort pads

Recycle - Recycling in design: design using recyclable and secondary (recycled) material - Design for recycling: less use of haberdashery, folding techniques are used instead.

CEO, W-2, November 30 2020

W-2 reported to be working from 2019 to 2022 on a project called Circtex. This project focuses on the development of fully circular polyester workwear garments in which four different product types are made entirely of polyester. With state-of-the art knowledge and technologies, W-2 claimed that the company wants to create a completely circular product. They want to make and understand the steps of a circular product scenario. With the results of this project, they felt hopeful that they can easily adapt to new circular technologies or fibres because of the scenario they have already established for polyester. This project will focus on chemical and mechanical recycling, spinning and weaving, no-waste production, design for disassembly, recyclable laminates, logo’s and accessories, collecting and sorting systems (Interreg North West Europe, 2020).

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Applied strategies by W-2:

Rethink - Exploring the resource flows of polyester the circular economy by trial and error. Recycle - The company has been experimenting in collaboration with stakeholders how a circular

supply chain works focussing on design for recycling.

Sustainability manager – W-3, December 21st₂₀₂₀

The sustainability manager reported that W-3 attempts to contribute to a more circular workwear industry by participating in projects on circularity and using recycled fibres in their products. W-3’s projects are mostly made of polyester cotton blends. They recently replaced PET with recycled Polyester from bottles.

Regarding the design, they have not yet made any changes to create a more circular garment.

In 2013, W-3 had a 100% certified cradle-to-cradle collection. However, the collection no longer exists because it was not profitable. Later, they experimented with other recycled fibre options. Unfortunately, they have not yet found a suitable recycled option for their workwear trousers. Along with their textile supplier TP-2, they did produce a textile for workwear trousers. It was a material containing 10% recycled cotton retrieved from bedlinen. However, the material was not sufficiently strong and did not meet the technical standards.

The sustainability manager explained that the company believes in chemical recycling technologies for polyester-cotton blends. However, this is not yet possible. Therefore, they are involved with the Saxion project breakthrough poly-cotton recycling.

Furthermore, W-3 recently established a collaboration with a sorting and recycling company. Garments are collected, sorted, and re-sold. However, this is just a small amount of garments.

Regarding the lifetime of their products is around 50-75 washing cycled. However, in practice this depends on how the end-user cares for his or her workwear garments.

Applied circular strategies by W-3:

Repurpose - Garments are repurposed.

Recycle - The company has been experimenting in collaboration with textile producers to develop textiles with a lower environmental footprint focussing on recycling in design

Replacing Virgin Textiles by State of Art Circular Workwear Textiles