Search Results (6)

The development of the field of textronics covers many directions, but the neediest are safety, medicine, and environmental protection. The solutions developed can combine the needs of many people from different social groups and ages. This leads to sustainable socio-economic, scientific and integrated approaches to sustainable development. The authors, seeing the growing need to monitor air pollution in order to increase safety, decided to develop textronic chemical sensors based on carbon-based inks and metal thread embroidery, sensitive to harmful gases and vapors based on textiles. This was to limit the production of subsequent sensors made in plastic housings containing difficult-to-recycle materials and replace them with sensors incorporated into everyday materials such as clothing, which will inform us about emerging threats not only in the place where a large plastic sensor is placed, but in every place at home, at work and outside where we will be. The authors assume that the sensors can be incorporated into clothing, e.g. work clothes, and can also be fastened from one piece of clothing to another. This increases their economic aspect and usability on a larger scale. Three materials of different composition were tested: cotton, polyester and viscose. These materials were selected based on their properties, namely the easier determination of their ability to achieve full circularity of the final product.Functional and mechanical tests of resistance to factors occurring during everyday use were carried out for the use of systems in clothing materials and to produce roller blinds and curtains. To examine the durability of the systems, electrical conductivity was checked before and after the tests. The results showed changes in resistance values after individual tests and during contact with harmful gases. Particularly noticeable are the differences between samples with embroidery and samples with inkjet paste applied. It was shown that the selected materials are suitable for the intended application, and selected modifications together with conductive materials show proper functioning in detecting harmful gases. This project demonstrates the possibility of creating chemical sensors based on printing techniques using carbon printing pastes and embroidery with a metal thread with silver on a textile substrate. Possible applications considering health and environmental aspects are presented. Full article

This study examined retailers’ sourcing strategies for clothing made from recycled textile materials in the five largest European clothing retail markets (i.e., the UK, Italy, France, Germany, and Spain), given the increasing availability of such products. The multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted based on the detailed country of origin and product assortment information of thousands of such clothing items for sale in these five EU countries from January 2021 to May 2023. The results show that EU retailers sourced clothing using recycled textile materials diversely from over 40 developing and developed countries across Asia, America, Europe, and Africa. The geographic location of supplying countries statistically affects the detailed assortment of recycled clothing that EU retailers import. However, apart from assortment diversity, no statistical evidence indicates that developing countries had advantages over developed ones regarding product sophistication, replenishment frequency, and pricing in the five EU markets. The study’s findings offer new insights into the business aspects of recycled clothing and reveal promising global sourcing opportunities for such products. The results also imply a potentially significant shift in global apparel trade patterns as retailers embrace fashion circularity and expand sourcing clothing made from recycled textile materials. Full article

This study explored U.S. retailers’ sourcing patterns for clothing made from recycled textile materials. Based on a statistical analysis of over 3000 such clothing items for sale in the U.S. retail market from January 2019 to August 2022 at the Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) level, the study found that U.S. retailers adopted a diverse sourcing base for clothing made from recycled textile materials, covering developed and developing economies worldwide. Additionally, an exporting country’s economic development level and geographic location had statistically significant impacts on U.S. retailers’ sourcing patterns for clothing made from recycled textile materials regarding assortment diversity, product sophistication, market segments, and pricing. The study’s findings revealed the broad supply base for clothing made from recycled textile materials and suggested promising sourcing opportunities for such products. The findings also indicated that sourcing clothing made from recycled textile materials may help U.S. retailers achieve business benefits beyond the positive environmental impacts. Full article

Waste recycling is an effective way to improve waste management, which is closely related to the support of social and economic foundations. With the development of a circular economy, green consumption is imperative. Most of the environmental protection brand enterprises are now almost limited to the environmental protection of clothing raw materials. However, there are still many problems in the overall industrial chain of the clothing industry, such as the pollution in the processes of processing, transportation and laundry, and the waste of resources caused by a large amount of textile waste after consumption. Starting from the theme of environmental protection and sustainable development of the clothing industry, this paper discusses the necessity of building a recycling system for post-consumer textile waste. Through the investigation of the recycling and reuse of domestic post-consumer textile waste, the existing problems are analyzed, such as the recycling supervision mechanism’s imperfections, the trust crisis and a lack of recycling channels. Combined with the successful cases abroad, some solutions and suggestions are put forward for the regeneration and reuse of post-consumer textile waste, and a preliminary conception of the charitable market system is made. Full article

An increased amount of textile waste will be available in the future, and its utilization requires attention from various perspectives. The re-utilization of textile waste in a second material cycle is an option for dealing with a global problem that puts stress on the urban environment. In this study, almost 30 kg of clothing were recycled as a raw material in the structure of a composite, whose structural properties were analyzed. The studied materials were made from high-density polyethylene (HDPE), anhydride modified polyethylene, lubricant, and either polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or rayon fibers from recycled clothes. The recycled clothes were identified by a near-infrared (NIR) analyzer, followed by treatment of size reduction and materials compounding by agglomeration and compression molding technologies. The material properties were characterized by thickness swelling, water absorption, impact, and tensile testing. The recycled clothes fibers, acting as a filler component in the structure of the composite, could maintain the properties of the material at the same level as the reference material. PET fibers being used as a component resulted in a significant improvement in impact strength. The study showed that recycled clothes can be re-utilized as a substitute for raw materials, and can be part of a solution for future challenges involving textile waste, following the principles of the circular economy. Textile recycling create opportunities to improve the quality of urban life. Full article

With the development of technology, fibers and textiles are no longer exclusive for the use of clothing and decoration. Protective products made of high-strength and high-modulus fibers have been commonly used in different fields. When exceeding the service life, the protective products also need to be replaced. This study proposes a highly efficient recycling and manufacturing design to create more added values for the waste materials. With a premise of minimized damage to fibers, the recycled selvage made of high strength PET fibers are reclaimed to yield high performance staple fibers at a low production cost. A large amount of recycled fibers are made into matrices with an attempt to decrease the consumption of new materials, while the combination of diverse plain woven fabrics reinforces hybrid-fabric fibrous planks. First, with the aid of machines, recycled high strength PET fibers are processed into staple fibers. Using a nonwoven process, low melting point polyester (LMPET) fibers and PET staple fibers are made into PET matrices. Next, the matrices and different woven fabrics are combined in order to form hybrid-fabric fibrous planks. The test results indicate that both of the PET matrices and fibrous planks have good mechanical properties. In particular, the fibrous planks yield diverse stab resistances from nonwoven and woven fabrics, and thus have greater stab performance. Full article