MIT-born clothing brand Ministry of Supply, a professional performance apparel company, is changing the manufacturing paradigm. Through its 3-D knitting and printing technology that reduces inventory and production waste, garment design is coded into computer aided design, or CAD, software, and after robotically manipulating more than 4,000 needles, garments are produced in one, seamless piece. Gihan Amarasiriwardena, cofounder and chief design officer at Ministry of Supply, told WWD, “The sustainability benefits are wide-ranging. First, the method reduces 35 percent of the fabric waste created by traditional cut-and-sew garment construction. The technology also eliminates the need for inventory and clearance racks, as garments are produced on-demand. Additionally, renewable or recyclable yarns can be used in 3-D Print-Knit, which adds another layer of product sustainability.”
“Rethink Reuse.” That’s the slogan at Savers, a for-profit global retailer that offers gently used clothing, accessories and household goods. “The opportunity for individuals to extend the life of items through reuse — which is what the Savers model is based on — will always be a sustainable and scalable solution, regardless of new innovation around production and design that aims to make the retail industry more sustainable,” said Tony Shumpert, vice president of recycling and reuse at Savers. “At our recycling facilities, we capture all of the items that go unsold at our stores, sort those items for their greatest use possible and utilize our more than 100 recycling partners worldwide to send them to reuse markets around the globe. By doing this, we divert about 700 million pounds of reusable textiles each year from landfills.”
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And Arvin Goods, a sustainable basics brand that creates 100 percent upcycled products, recently announced its first Made in Japan collection: Each pair of upcycled socks saves more than 50 gallons of water, whilst eliminating toxic chemicals and dyes. The brand partnered with Yui Co. Ltd., a family-run factory based in Awaji Island, Japan, to create the collection, which was inspired by centuries-old Japanese “sock culture,” according to the company. Yui Co. has more than 104 years of “sock-crafting history” and has passed on special techniques to its third-generation family ownership. The collection offers three styles: Original Sock, Rib Sock and Street Sock, with finishing details on each style done by hand, the brand said. “Our goal with the Made in Japan collection was to take our existing material story of reclaimed cotton and build it into an elevated product,” says Arvin Goods’ managing director Dustin Winegardner. Yui Co. devotes “the highest level of care and detail to deliver this high-quality product — with an incredible heritage story to add to our low-impact yarns. In this way, we’ve shown that you can make premium basics, with minimal resources for materials.”
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