Do you check the tags on clothes before purchasing them to know what they are made of? A few decades ago, not many people were concerned about the origin of cotton or how it was sourced. However, nowadays we want to know where our fabrics come from, how they are made and what their environmental impact truly is. The good news is that an increasing number of businesses and manufacturers keep track of their raw materials throughout their entire life cycle. Other companies use recycled materials that considerably reduce the textile industry’s impact: here’s where we come in, at Ecolife by Belda Lloréns we work to create yarn from recycled cotton, resulting in sustainable clothing. Keep reading to find out what you should be looking for the next time you check the tags.
Why choose recycled cotton?
Traditionally, we connect cotton production with ideas such as “pollution”, “water footprint” or “pesticides”. In many cases, these may be fair conclusions, but as it’s mentioned in a sustainability study by ICAC, as a global industry, this material is sourced in a wide variety ways and under different conditions such as the environment, climate, agroeconomics, local society and politics, depending on the place of origin. As a consequence, growing the same plant can lead to different practices and impacts, which is why we need to assess the best way in each case to make the most of this material in a responsible manner. To us this means reusing and recycled existing fibres: we want to go a step further by combining raw materials obtained organically with recycled cotton fibres, reducing both the need to produce cotton in an uncontrolled way and the process’ environmental impact. Our end goal is a circular textile industry, and sustainable cotton is a cornerstone to achieve this.
What are our sustainable cotton products?
At Ecolife by Belda we know that cotton has many uses, which is why we have created several types of recycled cotton blends so that each manufacturer can choose the one that best adapts to their needs. Mainly, we have two sustainable cotton products: E*Cotton and E*Best Cotton.
E*Cotton is a blend of recycled cotton and BCI cotton (Better Cotton Initiative). We have different proportions of each material: E*Cotton 70/30, E*Cotton 60/40 and E*Cotton 40/60.
E*Best Cotton is the world’s most sustainable coloured recycled cotton: it is a blend of 50 % organic cotton and 50 % coloured recycled cotton.
As well as the above, we have other fibre blends that contain recycled cotton, such as E*Polycot, E*Gec or E*Denim, all of them involve savings in water, reducing carbon dioxide emissions and no chemicals.
The sustainability of our recycled cotton
We have mentioned the different blends and types of recycled cotton in our product range, but, how sustainable are they really? Next, we show savings’ percentage data for E*Cotton and E*Best Cotton during its life cycle:
E*Cotton
Depending on the E*Cotton blend, the percentage changes slightly, therefore, the highest figure would represent the 70/30 E*Cotton blend by Ecolife by Belda, and the lowest percentage would be our 40/60 blend:
- Between 97 and 94 % in water scarcity savings.
- Between 67 and 52 % in global warming savings.
- Between 68 and 42 % in eutrophication reduction.
Between 60 and 52 % in abiotic depletion reduction.
E*Best Cotton
The E*Best Cotton data is within a similar range to the E*Cotton in the global warming savings and eutrophication reduction variables. Its percentage regarding abiotic depletion reduction is higher, and even though the water scarcity savings figure is lower, it is still very high compared to the sector’s average.
- 91 % in water scarcity savings.
- 67 % in global warming savings.
- 54 % in eutrophication reduction.
- 69 % in abiotic depletion reduction.
Collaborations in sustainability projects
At Ecolife by Belda we actively work to achieve a circular economy, reason why our recycled cotton products are the perfect way for different companies in the textile industry to develop their most sustainable projects. For instance, we collaborate with Ternua, a fashion brand with an adventurous spirit, and their project Wearcycle: they send us postconsumer waste fabric, from which we make recycled cotton they use to create their new garments. We also work with The Fision, a sustainable fashion brand from the U.S.A. who use E*Gec fabric for their cotton garments.
Do you want to take your textile production a step further towards sustainability? You can do this without sacrificing quality or colour thanks to Ecolife by Belda, get in touch with us and discover much more!
Latest posts:
- The Different Kinds of Recycled Cotton by Ecolife by Belda
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- Ecolife by Belda’s Textile Certifications: For the Future of the Planet
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- The Relevance of Circular Economy within the Textile Industry
