It is a downcycling process where textile fibers are transformed into fillers or stuffing materials instead of ending up in landfills or getting burned. They cannot be upcycled because the material compositions are mixed up completely (e.g. cotton with polyester and elastane). In this process, textile waste is shredded or processed into smaller pieces that can be used as filling material for various products such as pillows, mattresses or insulation materials.

The slogan refers to the process of diverting waste materials from ending up in landfills and reusing them as fillers. In the process, discarded materials are transformed into useful fillers, giving them a new purpose and reducing the amount of waste going to landfills.

Mixed textiles are hard to recycle and often end up in landfills or get burned. We have found a way to put them to good use. They are incorporated as filling materials in non-visible parts of our bags and backpacks.

We look where others don’t look. In the past, we followed the industry standard and also used PP boards (Polypropylene) and PE foams (Polyethylene) as fillers in our backpacks. They are used to make a backpack stiff and soft at the time. We were successful in replacing them with felt material from mixed textile waste. This saves 4-5% of virgin fossil materials per backpack.

Fiber-to-fiber recycling is a closed-loop process where used textile fibers are transformed into new fibers for creating new textile products, reducing waste and maximizing material reuse. The process we use is called chemical recycling.

It is a special method of textile recycling in which synthetic fibers such as polyester are broken down into their original chemical building blocks and then used to make new synthetic fibers. 

The chemical recycling process we use is based on glycolysis. It uses ethylene glycol to depolymerize (under pressure at 200°C) and is still an early-stage technology. Our first production in 2023 still runs on pilot plans and therefore is double the price towards bottle-to-fiber recycling.

It will be a game changer for the textile industry. It is one of the most sustainable and scalable levers available. Once fully mature, estimates indicate that 70% of textile waste could be fiber-to-fiber recycled.
_{More information: Scaling textile recycling in Europe–turning waste into value, McKinsey, 2022}

Chemical recycling nowadays needs an input with 80% material purity. In our case, this means we need to have textiles with 80% polyester and max. 20% other fibers e.g. cotton. Also, the energy consumption is higher than when you recycle plastic bottles in mechanical recycling. The higher the material purity the less energy is needed for chemical recycling. That’s why our goal is to make products from pure mono-fibers such as 100% PET.

Even so, more energy is needed than when recycling plastic bottles, but it’s roughly 4x times less than that you need to put in virgin material. Numbers provided by Intertech show that the cumulative energy demand for 1kg of polyester chips from virgin polyester is 72 MJ (Megajoule). That of polyester chips from recycled textiles in chemical recycling (by glycolysis method) is only 16 MJ. We assume the process will become more efficient over the years.

We're going all out here! 100% of the yarns we gain in fiber-to-fiber recycling are from recycled textiles. We believe that we can only help to establish this technology when we buy large amounts. Other brands use an amount of 5-20% only and still sell it as ‘recycled from textiles’. This is mainly because the costs are double for yarns made from bottle-to-fiber recycling.

Today it is still difficult to buy old clothing with only certain ingredients. The development of a uniform take-back system for textiles is not yet established. The material composition is still a matter of luck. For our chemical recycling process to run most efficiently, we need a high percentage of polyester. So half of the textiles come from used school and hospital uniforms and the other half are leftovers from cutting material of the garment industry. To save emissions in transportation this textile waste is sourced from China too. All of them are REACH compatible!

That is still a lot of material that is wasted, even when you consider that other waste is generated during material production. We are working with our suppliers to return the waste material to a closed-loop process soon wherever possible.

The very most items we produce were demanded by our customers, so there are no leftovers. Sometimes we discontinue products, so they get sold for a discounted price. Even items that get returned, get sold again after we have cleaned and checked them. The number of defective items which cannot be used again is very small – and would not have a positive effect on emissions if we send them back to our recycling facility in China.

Through our innovative measures, Ucon Acrobatics is already achieving extremely high rates of over 90% of recycled textiles per product by weight. Thus, numerous products would already meet the criteria of "recyclable" or "circular". There is still no uniform take-back system for textiles close to every household yet. We support the process that the European Union plans to establish. Sending back products to us would cause additional emissions.