Textile Insight

8 • Textile Insight ~ March/April 2022 textileinsight.com Buzz about Degrowth, Resale, Eco Packaging & Carbon Capture. By Emily Walzer Demand for Degrowth Chatter about degrowth, or the degrowth movement, is getting louder as the concept is now talked about regarding every- thing from global economics to individual wellbeing. Such is the strength of degrowth, that it ranks as a top trend in forecast- ing called The New Order. So what's it all about? Degrowth is based on the principle that less production and consump- tion means greater social and ecological welfare. In the last few years, the climate crisis has often led the degrowth conversa- tion, with the phrase "degrowth is green growth" popping up in seminars on environmen- tal responsibility. Degrowth received renewed attention in the wake of the pandemic, but the idea has been around for 40 years, first coming to promi- nence in the early 70s when the word "décroissance" was coined in France, and literature on the topic flourished. Recently Scotland, Iceland and New Zealand have all pledged to prior- itize well being rather than solely focus on economic growth. And currently, degrowth is finding a home in less is more, eco-driven lifestyles. l Circular Fashion Tech Call it resale, secondhand or thrifting, but whatever the label, it is a thriving business, and a marketplace primed for textiles and ingredient technologies that help extend the life of a garment. Polygiene's partner- ship with Italian denim brand Diesel represents this emerging trend. Launched in November, Diesel's Second Hand collection comprises garments brought back into store by consumers and then given a second life, with a combination of Polygiene OdorCrunch and ViralOff tech- nologies that keep garments staying fresh and hygienic, play- ing a key role in the repurposing process. According to a 2021 report from ThredUp, the U.S. secondhand fashion market is expected to nearly triple in value in the next 10 years to $80B by 2029. The UK organization, Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), claims if clothes stayed in active use for nine months longer, extending their average life to around three years, this would reduce carbon, water and waste footprints by 20-30 percent. With circular fash- ion topping the charts, textile technologies should be a hit. l Planet-Positive Packaging Patagonia does it. Everlane does it, even the UK postal service does it. In fact most outdoor brands are using eco-friendly packaging to ship products. A Material Connexion Miniscape video recently featured two companies bringing next-step innovation to the world of waste- ful, plastic packaging. Lam'on, Ltd., has introduced a 100 percent biodegradable laminating film and a packaging foil Pack'on made from corn. According to the company, both have the full performance capabilities of plastic film but are based on PLA and as such com- postable, whereas conventional films render most products and flexible packaging non-recyclable. Lam'on shares that less than 14 per- cent of the 27.4M metric tonnes of this kind of flexible packaging with lamination film are recycled annu- ally. Full Cycle's mission is recycling food and organic waste into PHA, which is biodegradable and com- postable and can be used as a replacement for plastic packag- ing. Neither arable land, nor crop cultivation is needed; the process relies on bacterial fermentation that can be mimicked in an indus- trial setting. Both firms are gaining traction as interest in green pack- aging grows. l Carbon Capture Cresting Another day, another carbon headline. There's no doubt that carbon is where the action is with new and different capture methods in a race to lower GHG emissions. Consider a recent report from Stylus, "Mechanical Trees Could Capture More CO2 Than Real Ones," explaining that Dublin-based tech com- pany Carbon Collect is devising mechanical trees able to soak up carbon dioxide from the atmo- sphere at an astonishing speed — a thousand times faster than actual trees. Also topping the news is how Iceland's unique volcanic geology provides an ideal environment for technol- ogy to filter air and store carbon. A first of its kind plant, called Orca, built by Climeworks, is fil- tering CO2 directly from the air and stored permanently under- ground. Jan Wurzbacher, CEO and co-founder of Climeworks, was quoted stating, "The combi- nation of direct air capture and storage is very likely what the world will need at a massive scale if we want to be compliant with Paris climate targets." Limiting global warming to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius is the goal. l IN THE MARKET | 2022 TRENDS Hot Topics Photo by Chris Leboutillier on Unsplash

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