Going Circular, Going Cellulose (GC)2

Students/researchers and designers work on the latest developments and results of the research project ‘Going Circular, Going Cellulose’ (2018-2020), which investigated the production and design of fashion textiles made by sustainable cellulose fibres.

Sustainability and a circular economy are important objectives for the development in the textile supply chain. However, the realization of a sustainable supply chain askes for a lot of adjustments and a total new method for all participating partners. The replacement of one raw material by a more environment friendly raw material is not the solution. The achievement must be a structural change in the way players within the supply chain should communicate and cooperate. In addition, there should also be major changes within the processing of the materials to transfer sustainable raw materials into high quality products.

Since sustainability and circular economy are important items within the textile and production chain, many companies want to produce sustainable products. But they don’t know how. Sustainability asks for a circular supply chain, with completely different standards and values compared to the linear production chain as we know it.

Goal

The research in Going Circular, Going Cellulose has its focus on the effective development of methods within the supply chain. The research aims on an interactive co-creation process of technical development of yarns, based on sustainable cellulose fibres, like recycled cotton and hemp. Besides that, there is a focus on adjusting woven fabrics in a way that they meet the requirements and wishes of designers of textile end products.

Designers have an important role in creating access to sustainable products through ethical design. In addition, it is of great importance that designers develop understanding when it comes to materials, in this way they can be involved at an early stage, this is essential for an actual circular design process.

The mutual collaboration between all stakeholders in the supply-chain creates a strong interaction between (technical-) designers with the emphasis on aesthetics and in use properties.

The research focuses on the way different stake holders in the circular supply chain work together and in the way, they should exchange knowledge to actually realize this synergy. All partners in the production chain actively collaborate in order to research the main question:

How can an intergraded, interactive process, from a technical, functional and aesthetic product design lead to optimal use of sustainable textiles and to the optimization of the circular supply chain of textile and fashion?