Why excess textiles are important?

We encourage companies to offer and use excess textiles so that ready-made materials would not end up wasted. Utilization of waste, reuse and extending the life cycle of the material are effective ways to protect nature from overloading. Do not buy new if the material is found in production surplus and is even unused.

The production of textiles takes a large amount of natural resources and pollutes waters up to the dyeing and finishing stages. The ecological cost of manufacturing is very high, which is why already produced textiles should be utilized to the maximum.

At this moment excess inventory of textiles sits in warehouses or is going to be burned because there is no use for it. This causes environmental harm and unnecessary financial expense. To overcome this, we created a marketplace to keep textiles in circulation.

By excess (or surplus) textile, we mean first or second-quality, unnecessary, reusable undamaged textile, such as unused fabric and/or fabric bundles and cutting waste.

The problem is that there is no reliable information available on the amount of textile waste, because companies in production industry do not separate textile waste from other production waste streams, but textile waste is part of the company’s other waste material that is suitable for incineration. In this case, textile waste is not counted separately in textile waste, but in mixed waste or energy waste (burnable waste).

We have worked in the textile industry for a long time and struggled with conflicting ideas about our industry. Our various work experiences have given us the perspective to look at things from a new perspective. We looked for solutions that could make operations even more environmentally friendly.

The circular economy takes into account the limitation of non-renewable natural resources and the growing production and consumption that cause environmental impacts. Material efficiency plays an important role in the circular economy. The aim is to preserve the materials and their value within the scope of the economy for as long as possible and to utilize them efficiently. It is worth promoting material efficiency in companies and business life, because efficiency creates competitiveness, environmental impact and cost reduction.

Material efficiency means that harmful effects are reduced during the life cycle. The definition of material efficiency asks, for example, the following: how to reduce the amount of waste, how to optimize the use of raw materials, how to extend the useful life of products or promote material efficiency in storage and procurement, and what economic significance is obtained from material efficiency. Waste material causes both visible and hidden costs, which can be e.g. waste management, raw material costs, so-called excess quality, labor cost, energy consumption, manufacturing process, handling and storage, facility costs and transportation costs.

In the circular economy, material efficiency and monitoring play an important role. Material efficiency should be promoted in companies, because efficiency leads to competitiveness, reduction of costs and environmental impact.