The clothing industry is notorious for its substantial waste generation as a result of its quick trends and rampant throwaway mentality. While there are fashion brands that prioritize green materials to help address this issue, they tend to be more expensive, and fashion sustainability education remains relatively minimal and inaccessible to most.
Fortunately, retail giant Walmart's latest partnership with private fiber company Infini may make great strides in commercializing eco-conscious apparel.
Infini, known for its sustainable mission, has designed ankle-cut socks made from recycled fabrics as well as other recycled materials from its Repreve Takeback fabric that includes plastic water bottles, according to Chain Store Age. The socks will be sold under the Joyspun brand at familiar, affordable retail sites around the country.
This isn't Walmart's first eco-friendly initiative. The multinational company also launched Project Gigaton in 2017, which intends to cut 1 billion tons of carbon pollution by 2030, and has nurtured several other low-carbon and anti-waste partnerships.
"We're creating a more circular system where, instead of landfills, we take textiles we no longer need and turn them back into products we can use," said Walmart's Scott Bingham.
Over 11 million tons of textile waste end up in landfills in the U.S. alone each year, equivalent to more than 80 pounds per person, per Earth.org. As landfills overflow, they release toxic substances such as methane, a potent planet-warming gas, into the soil and surrounding atmosphere. Discarded plastic, meanwhile, breaks down into microplastics that, when transported through our soil, water, and crops, can pose serious health concerns for humans, from reproductive issues to heart attacks.
Taking steps to repurpose discarded items, such as fabrics, helps ensure that although our overconsumption problem is vast, the very products that were once thrown out make their way back onto the shelves. Especially coming from a company as large and commonplace as Walmart in the U.S., we can expect repurposed and recycled clothing materials to garner more mainstream attention, encouraging more consumers to shop mindfully.
"Our partnership … is a powerful step forward in making circularity a reality for everyday consumers," explained CEO Eddie Ingle of Unifi Manufacturing. "This collaboration moves us closer to a future where products are intentionally made to be remade, and waste is redefined as a valuable resource."
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