Japanese clothing firm produces fiber by recycling used clothes

A Japanese clothing firm is using a pioneering method to recycle polyester clothes, turning old garments into new ones in a bid to reduce non-ecological waste.

Polyester is one of the most non-environmentally friendly materials used to make clothing as it is a synthetic fiber that is not biodegradable, and it requires fossil fuels to manufacture.

BRING was launched in Tokyo's commercial and finance center Shibuya last month to help stop the cycle of waste polyester.

Products including T-shirts, hoodies, and tote bags sold at the retail shop are all made from scraps of clothing. Using the firm's proprietary technology, old polyester clothes are treated, then either turned into new clothes, or into bolts of fabric that other companies can purchase to make sustainable products.

Consumers say it's a good choice for those who don't like second-hand clothes but who still want to buy environmental-friendly products.

"Clothes worn by others can be turned into new clothes, so that even people who don't like second-hand clothes may be willing to buy them," said a consumer.

The company uses recycling stations set up at their retail shops to collect polyester fabric scraps or clothes. The firm's unique fiber regeneration technology can greatly reduce petroleum consumption during polyester fiber production, cutting more than 60 percent of carbon emissions compared to traditional garment industry.

Meanwhile, clothing companies are increasingly buying BRING's new regenerative fabric to produce their own clothes, the firm says.

"Currently, few textiles are recycled in Japan compared with the total waste, but the number of enterprises setting up textile recycling stations or buying our cloth raw materials is increasing year by year," said Aiko Okita, manager of Public Relations Department of BRING.

So far, BRING has collected 3,000 tons of used clothing under the project, equivalent to 15 million T-shirts.