Mechanical Recycling of Textiles

Under the headline "Walk4Recycling", a tour of the fair will show the cycle of used textiles (worn knitwear) into a new flat-knitted sweater made with a ring spun yarn of the blend 65% recycled cotton / 35% virgin polyester. This high proportion of recycled fibres from post-consumer textiles for a ring spun yarn of this fineness is an innovation, as today primarily coarse rotor yarns for lower-quality textiles are spun from these materials. The industrial partners participating in the Walk4Recycling are primarily partners of the Recycling Atelier who contribute with their technologies to the fact that in the various process stages these old clothes and subsequently this fibre material can be processed again into a yarn of new value and high-quality ready-made garments.

This tour offers visitors the opportunity to follow a complete recycling cycle with the numerous process stages from tearing the old textiles, preparing and spinning the fibres, winding and twisting the yarn to produce a new sweater during the fair. This website provides detailed information on the participating exhibitors and their machines and technologies for this mechanical recycling of garments. A short film gives additional insights into the different processes for the production of this sweater. The products from the different processes are shown as demonstrators at the participating exhibitors.

The ring spinning tester of the Institute of Textile Technology at RWTH Aachen University processes this fibre blend of recycled and new fibres during the trade fair and thus integrates itself into the tour.