Insulation from fabric scraps

The Lycra company has introduced Thermolite^® EcoMade fiber made from 100-percent textile waste for insulation applications. This new warming technology involves recycling textile waste from cutting room floors that would have been sent to a landfill or incinerated and transforming it into high-performance fibers for insulation. After fabric scraps are collected from garment-makers, they go through a four-step process before becoming a finished product. This process includes depolymerization and refining, chip manufacture, fiber formation and finally batting and insulation production. The resulting insulation can be used in accessories, activewear, denim, outerwear, sleeping bags, socks and more.

The fiber is available in two versions of insulation—both thin-loft and mid-loft battings. Each is made with 85 percent or more recycled fibers, including about 50 percent Thermolite fiber made from recycled PET bottles and 35 percent made from the new textile waste product. By using textile waste as an input to make commercial performance fibers, Lycra is providing a solution to help the industry deal with its textile waste problem, as well as creating a starting point for circularity.