July 14, 2025
Taya Foxman
14 July 2025
Fashion & Design
In our third Fashion Focus instalment, we’re skipping right to the end of a garment’s life. A ‘loop’ being ‘open’ or ‘closed’, in fashion terms, refers to the way clothing materials can be reused or recycled. Closed-loop recycling is the ‘gold standard’ for managing textile waste. Open-loop is considered the next best thing if closed-loop is impossible.
Also referred to as ‘down-cycling’, open-loop recycling in fashion means that old textiles and clothes are recycled, but into products that are different from their original form. In other words, they’re not being used to make new clothes. Often they will be converted into lower-grade products for other industries, for example rags, insulation, mattress or furniture stuffing, or car interiors.
Why does this mean the loop is ‘open’? Well, an opening is created in the loop because new materials are being introduced into the production lifecycle to create new clothes. Even though the end product is recycled, it’s recycled into something else, so the quantity of new clothes that are being produced doesn’t depend on how much material can be recouped from old clothes. The ‘input’ doesn’t depend on the ‘output’. Brands don’t rely on identifying what happens to their clothes at their end of life in order to source the materials for their new collection – they just buy more materials. This approach isn’t limited to fast fashion brands – most brands operate on an open-loop model.
Closed-loop recycling refers to a process where recycled clothing and textiles are recycled into new products that are the same in type and quality as the old ones. No ‘down-grading’ of the materials is occurring. This ‘closes the loop’ by creating a continuous cycle where the amount of clothing a brand can produce always depends on how much material is being recycled from previous products. The textiles’ original integrity and properties are maintained. However, closed-loop recycling is not technologically possible for all materials.
Polyester is the world’s most produced fibre – 51.5% of total fibre production, to be exact. Polyester can be recycled into new clothes, but only once – every time it is melted down the material degenerates, and it cannot be recycled a second time without jeopardising the quality. With that in mind, as recycling technology currently stands, polyester cannot have a place in a truly closed loop.
Ultimately, from a sustainability perspective, closed-loop is the ideal for any fashion business. That said, you don’t need to be running a completely closed-loop operation to adopt some of the philosophies and mindsets of the ‘loop’. For example, thinking more carefully about the types of textiles you’re using, reducing the amount of trends-based products that will be discarded more quickly, and taking responsibility for what might happen to your clothes once your customers are done wearing them by actively encouraging donation, repair or recycling.
