Image Via : Veg News

Stella McCartney has upped the fashion recycling game in collaboration with sports giants Adidas. Upcyling has been given the boot and in its place is a much more technological approach to recycling fashion. In their latest merger, Adidas and Stella McCartney are liquefying old, discarded or unused garments from every department of the industry in order to create new ones.

The first of what will hopefully be many more pieces in the collection has been dubbed “The New Hoodie.” This sweatshirt is the first of its kind and limited edition of course, to use the special technology that allowed for The New Hoodie to be created. Perhaps it started life off as a Summer dress, a pair of cotton jeans or even a simple T-Shirt, but now those fibers have been liquefied and purified in order to create the fabric for its second chance at life. The technology is the brain child of tech company Evrnu (pronounced Ever-New) and is called NuCycl. It’s no secret that Stella McCartney has been a pioneer in terms of attempting to deal with the amount of waste the fashion industry produces, as well as her own name brand’s ethos for sustainable and cruelty free products. Now, Stella is bringing this eco-green and clean vibe to her Adidas by Stella collection and in a very big way. By creating a high end, raw material fabric from the rising percentage of waste produced in the industry, it has the potential to eliminate waste from the supply chain altogether. Taking the concept even further, it’s now actually possible to create better fit for purpose and higher performance fabrics than the fabric was in its original garment form.

Image Via : Charged Retail

At present, the NuCycl technology only works with cotton fibers but as the tech is still incredible new, there is great potential for growth into other fibers, particularly other natural fibers such as linen or wool. The process involves blending the garment waste and churning into a pulp like mixture before chemicals are added in order to break down the fibers and return them to their polymer form. Finally, the restored polymers are put through another machine which works similarly to a 3D printer, spitting out perfectly formed new yarn, ready for weaving or knitting again. Previously, reworking old fabric and attempting to spin into a new yarn meant chopping and manipulating the fibers in a way that weakened them but thanks to the new technology, many of the fibers are actually stronger than they were before the process began.

The New Hoodie itself, still in its infancy, is made from a mixture of the new yarn and organic cotton to create a very complex, sportswear appropriate jacquard knit. Although Evrnu is moving out of the lab and into the marketplace, it’ll still be a while before you’ll actually be able to get your body into some liquefied garments. The New Hoodie is being tested on the market through giving a limited run, around fifty hoodies, to athletics, both male and female, thanks to the unisex design. Evrnu, who doesn’t create garments themselves but who makes fibers for purchase by brands, forecasts to have their fibers out in the market by 2020, allowing designers, clothing makers and fabric mills to have access to them then, finally trickling down to the public being able to buy NuCycl technology infused garments.

The best thing about the new hoodie is the actual texture of the fabric, it looks interesting, appears to be soft against the skin and looks unique at the same time. It would have been very easy to produce a very basic hoodie and to ride the marketing storm on the back of the technology used, but Stella hasn’t forgotten about style, it’s a hoodie many people, not just athletics will actually want to wear.

Image Via : Charged Retail

Other pieces in the Adidas by Stella collection will include a tennis dress, manufactured by Bolt Threads, a leader and specialist in sustainable fabrics. This garment will actually have the ability to be fully biodegradable once its lifecycle has finished, thanks to its cellulose blended yarn and microsilk - a material that is created using renewable ingredients you can find in your cupboard, sugar, yeast and water!

It’s obvious how passionate Stella McCartney is about reducing the pollution and waste caused by the industry she works in, after all, she’s dedicated a large portion of her life to attempting to change the way we see, use and continue in the fashion industry. Quoted about her new venture, Stella exclaims that the fashion industry cannot wait anymore for answers and solutions to the cost we’re putting on the earth. “By creating a truly open approach to solving the problem of textile waste, we can help empower the industry at large to bring more sustainable practices into reality.” We love her enthusiasm and we hope she continues to bring change into the fashion industry however, it’s no mean feat. Realistically, she’s up against some major fast fashion conglomerates that not only produce a lot of waste but actually promote the idea of disposable fashion.

Image Via : Evrnu Twitter

Nothing yet has been revealed on just how much a garment like this will cost to the consumer. There could be a problem to come in terms of pricing and only time will tell whether the public embraces the potentially high price or not. Since most fabrics have only a process of weaving or knitting the yarn before they are ready for purchase, this fabric must first go through a lot of different processes before the yarn is even ready for spinning and of course we can only imagine all of these processes will add to the overall cost of the final product. Even with all the benefits for the planet that these garments promote, on a very basic level, Stella will still need to convince someone with a low disposable income that the cost of a $10 dress from a fast fashion company, has a much higher hidden price tag on our planet…