Recycled Cotton from Denim Cut Waste

Abstract

Denim is associated with the history of success and has endured economic challenges and changes in fashion. Due to its versatility, the connotation it makes as a social statement and acceptance in business meetings and other formal occasions, jeans is considered the top selling ‘bottom’ in the retail market. According to BernadetteKissane, Euromonitor Apparel and Footwear Analyst, jeans are expected to show a global rate of 3 percent CAGR (compound annual growth rate) by 2020. The manufacturing of jeans involves cutting and sewing the raw material which may be made of cotton, polyester/cotton blend or cotton with elastane. In apparel production, the marker efficiency ranges from 90 to 95% and a high efficiency leads to low wastage to increase profit margins. Whatever be the marker efficiency fabric wastage results as cut part remains which are usually sold in the market for wiping soils and machines. The world today is moving towards zero wastage and sustainable production with the onus on all members in the supply chain, to take responsibility for their business initiatives and consumption. The policy is to use the waste material as a secondary raw material which may be included in the regular production thereby clearing all grounds of wastage. In an effort to help the industry to move towards zero wastage this study was undertaken to utilize the denim cut waste from the apparel industry and convert them into yarn and fabric in conjunction with virgin material. After many efforts recycled cotton fiber was extracted from the denim cut waste by mechanical means and blended with virgin cotton to produce recycled cotton yarns using different blend ratios. As the fiber was colored the dyeing process was eliminated and fabric was produced using recycled blended yarns as weft and 100% cotton white yarn in the warp to resemble the denim fabric. The fabric was tested for physical, mechanical and comfort tests for recommendation as raw material for apparel manufacture. Thus this method of recycling denim cut waste is sustainable and effective in apparel manufacture.