What’s happening in the world of sustainable fashion?
January 2025
Kantamanto market: 60 percent destroyed in fire, over 10,000 people affected
A large portion of West Africa’s largest second-hand clothing market was destroyed in a fire at the beginning of the year. Large retailers, who are largely contributing to these secondhand markets in places like Africa, have yet to respond to the disaster.
First U.S. Biological Textile Recycling Pilot Plant Funded by the DOE
New Haven, Connecticut, home to the United States' first biological textile recycling pilot plant, led by Protein Evolution, Inc., recieved $3 million in federal funding to optimize and scale a recycling process to transform unrecyclable textile waste into high-quality polyethylene terephthalate (PET). This process not only recovers valuable textile dyes that typically hinder recycling but also eliminates chemical waste streams common in biological treatments. This breakthrough could reduce carbon emissions by up to 70% compared to traditional fossil-fuel-derived PET production.
December 2024
OMB Releases a Report on Textile Waste in the United States
The Agency found an 50% increase of textile waste between 2000 and 2008 and provides recommendations for the federal government to reduce textile waste.