Racial Injustice in the Recycling Textiles

Confronting Racial Injustice in the Recycling Textiles Industry: A Call to Action

Recycling textile waste is crucial for environmental justice The recycling textile industry is a crucial part of the circular economy and reducing textile waste. However, the industry is fraught with environmental and social injustices. The majority of the world’s recycled textiles come from developing countries, where workers are paid low wages and work in dangerous […]

How Blockchain Technology Can Promote Circularity Within the Fashion Industry

The fashion industry has a sustainability problem. However, the extent of the problem is virtually unknown due to fashion’s global and decentralized supply chain. Blockchain, a new innovative technology commonly associated with bitcoin, has the potential to improve transparency in complex supply chains. An improvement in transparency is the first major step toward building a […]

Transparency

How Can We Use Transparency to Track the Second Life of Clothing?

Society’s addiction to fashion is causing a devastating strain on the planet.  The First Step Towards Sustainable Fashion? Transparency. Cotton crops consume lots of water and require copious amounts of fertilizers and pesticides.  Whereas synthetic fibers, such as polyester, are made of plastic and therefore are derived from fossil fuels. Each year, billions of garments […]

Medical plastics image of IV bags, gloves, tubing

Can Medical Plastics be Recycled?

Globally more than 400 million tons of plastic waste is produced each year, of which only 9 percent is recycled. Medical Plastics and Sustainability in the Health Care Industry During a visit to my dentist’s office this past week I asked my dentist why he doesn’t recycle plastic cups. The answer baffled me, he said […]

hospital hallway with physician coats (medical textiles) hanging

Sustainability in the Healthcare Industry: Medical Textiles

According to a recent study, sustainability programs have tremendous potential to decrease the environmental footprint of the healthcare industry and drastically reduce costs. While there are many opportunities within the healthcare industry to reduce waste and improve sustainability efforts. One area often overlooked that creates a huge impact is hospital linen services which include the […]

textile dying process

Why Zero Panik?

The Textile Industry is a Dirty Business Why Zero Panik is dedicated to textile recycling The world of fashion allows individuals to freely express their creative selves, but behind the glitz and glamour lies a dark underbelly. As the calls against climate change and social inequities grow stronger, we can no longer ignore the fashion […]

From Rags to Ditches

From Rags to Ditches Why turning old t-shirts into rags is not sustainable. If you google textile recyclers you will find a list of companies that take your old t-shirts and rip them up into rags. Now while this all sounds well and good, we all know that rags get soiled and used for the […]

the cottage industry; textile industry, cotton textiles

The Fall Of The American Textile Industry

The American Textile Industry Before the industrial revolution, the textile industry operated out of homes and was known as the cottage industry. A once-booming industry here in the United States, today’s textile industry in the U.S. is a fraction of what it once was. It all began in 1785 when Edmund Cartwright patented the very […]

Eco-Conscious Consumers Seek Sustainable Options

Today’s consumer trends are shifting and now is the best time to market your sustainable brand. Marketing your brand is an essential part of building brand awareness and establishing a customer base and consistent revenue. Typically most brands spend thousands of dollars a year on marketing. Reaching your target market can be tricky and with […]

used clothing donations

What you should know about recycling used clothing and participating in textile recycling programs.

The fabric and clothing industry is evolving, fast fashion is becoming a thing of the past. Today, many well-known brands are partnering with a recycling company, to reduce the amount of textile waste sent to landfills from the industrial side of the fashion industry each year. But what happens to the clothing that we buy, […]