Chapter 2 — full chapter
Chapter 2. The future of Circular Materials
Chapter overview
This chapter introduces the main families of circular materials that are currently shaping textile and fashion innovation: recovered and recycled materials, regenerative materials, regenerated cellulosic fibres, bio-based materials and biofabricated materials (Textile Exchange, 2023; BIOTEXFUTURE, n.d.).
The aim is not to present any material as automatically sustainable. Instead, learners are encouraged to ask where the material comes from, how it is processed, what performance it offers, whether it is available at a realistic scale, and what can happen to it at end-of-life.
For fashion SMEs, circular material innovation can support product differentiation, reduce dependence on virgin resources, strengthen supplier stories and prepare for future regulation. However, each material choice also brings practical questions around cost, availability, quality, traceability, processing requirements and recovery routes (European Commission, 2022; Textile Exchange, 2023).
Material families covered in this chapter:
- Recovered and recycled materials, made from post-consumer or post-industrial waste streams.
- Regenerative materials, linked to land, forest or animal systems that aim to restore ecosystems while producing fibres.
- Regenerated materials, produced by dissolving natural polymers such as cellulose and reforming them into new fibres.
- Bio-based materials, made from renewable biological resources.
- Biofabricated materials, grown or produced through biological processes such as bacteria, fungi, algae or fermentation.
The pioneers of biobased materials,
In this chapter:
- 2.1 Recycled materials
- 2.2 Regenerative materials
- 2.3 Regenerated materials
- 2.4 Biobased materials