Closed-loop manufacturing: Sustainability across the supply chain

More brands than ever are releasing versions of sustainably sourced goods through a semi-closed loop production process. 

A semi-closed loop production process involves using recycled goods to create net new products, otherwise known as up-cycling. 

Here are just a few of the brands using recycled plastic in their products, or that released entire lines made of recycled plastic bottles:

1. Rothys: Slip on shoes made entirely of recycled plastic bottle fiber. 
2. Everlane: Launched three outwear pieces made of recycled plastic fiber, called ReNew.
3. 4Ocean: A bracelet company that makes bracelets (and bottles, etc.) out of recycled plastic, but that also helps to remove plastics from our oceans. 
4. Doris Sleep: A rising bed pillow startup focusing entirely on recycled plastic fiber fill (most pillows are made from virgin plastics). 
5. Girlfriend Collective: an emerging athleisure startup known for its affordable athletic wear made from recycled plastics like bottles and fishing nets.
6. Allbirds: best-known for their sustainability in other materials, with a main collection made from merino wool, one made from Eucalyptus pulp, and another more recently released of flip-flops made from the first carbon-negative EVA foam made from sugar cane. The company also makes its laces out of 100% post-consumer recycled plastic bottles.

It’s a trend that millennials and Gen Z are pushing forward – often in response to climate change anxiety or simply for wanting more visibility and transparency into production practices by the brands they spend their money with. 

While this semi-closed loop production process is certainly better than virgin plastic use in production processes, it isn’t exactly closed loop production. 

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What is a closed-loop system in manufacturing?

A closed-loop system in manufacturing is defined as a process where waste created during the production process is reused and recycled repeatedly. In this system, products are designed and manufactured with the intention of recycling or upcycling the materials at the end of their life. This system, also known as the circular economy, focuses on minimizing environmental impact by reducing waste, conserving resources, and reusing materials.

According to Green Matters: “When a company says it uses a closed-loop system, it’s referring to its supply chain. Under a closed-loop system, businesses reuse the same materials over and over again to create new products for purchase. It’s a way to conserve natural resources and divert waste from the landfill, and increasingly, more companies are adopting it.”

This is important because there’s so much extra material and textile waste that’s historically just been thrown out.

In the US alone, more than $500 billion of value is lost annually due to clothing under-utilization and the lack of recycling. Globally, less than one per cent of materials used to produce clothing is recycled into new clothing, representing a loss of more than $100 billion worth of materials each year.

There is value here for both a business’s bottom line and global sustainability. At our current pace, the fashion industry will use up more than 25% of the world’s entire carbon budget by 2050.

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Leaders in closed-loop supply chain

As semi-closed loop supply chain and production processes become more popular in the US, are there any brands currently taking a closed-loop supply chain approach?

Absolutely. 

Nike’s Closed-Loop Supply Chain

Nike flies pretty under the radar with their sustainability efforts, but they are one of the leaders in the industry.

As of 2018, more than 75% of all Nike products contained some sort of recycled textiles, and Nike uses more recycled polyester in the industry than anyone else.

Here are a few sustainability facts about their Air product alone:

• A dye-coloring process for Air soles allows 99% of recoverable dye water to be recycled
• All Air sole innovations designed since 2008 are composed of at least 50% recycled manufacturing waste.
• Today, Nike Air Manufacturing Innovation facilities divert more than 95% of manufacturing waste from landfills — that’s 51 million pounds of materials (the equivalent of nearly 10 Olympic-size swimming pools) from May 2016 to 2017 alone.
• The new Nike Air Max 270 Air sole boasts one of the largest, tallest, and most visible cushioning systems to date and contains more than 70% recycled manufacturing waste.
• The VaporMax Air sole, which contains more than 75% recycled material, has allowed Nike to remove the need for a foam mid-sole.

Nike has also launched the Nike Waste Minimum Program. The program sets expectations for management commitment, creates a hierarchy of waste where disposal is a last resort, details separation and handling waste for recycling and enables data collection and reporting for accountability. It outlines the elements necessary for factories to establish a strong foundation for waste management.

This kind of full supply chain waste minimization effort is some of the most comprehensive in the world, and necessary for both larger and smaller organizations to begin doing right now to curb carbon emissions and reduce net new product production. 

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For Days’s Closed-Loop Supply Chain

You don’t have to be a giant organization to implement a closed-loop supply chain and business model.

For Days is a fashion startup fighting against the concept of fast fashion with a closed loop business model. When customers sign up for a For Days subscription, they receive a bundle of shirts, ranging from basic tank tops to sweatshirts.

Once the clothes are worn down, stained, or torn, subscribers send them back for a new set — derived directly from those used threads.

“Recover is our recycling partner – They are a mill based in Spain and North Carolina and have been working on recycling for 70 years,” reads For Days’s Your Impact page. “The process entails chopping up old clothing, turning it into a pulp, and then spinning new yarn. This process produces almost zero green house gas and requires no water. For Days then takes that yarn and turns it into new proprietary fabrics and products.”

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Which materials are usually used?

Any material can be used in closed loop recycling! Most of the material used now is recycled plastic or fabric. Both of these can cleaned, chopped up, and turned into fabric (polyester) or new yarn. 

More and more brands are moving toward closed-loop supply chains and business models as an extension of their customer service.

The Billie Upcycling Innovation, which won an award from The Global Wellness Summit in 2019, has been tracking this trend – and helping both consumers and brands understand the dire issue at hand:

“In the US alone, clothing consumption has doubled to 14 million tonnes a year in under two decades. Unfortunately, this also means that billions of used clothing are thrown away each year to make room for the new ones. Often, our first thought of recycling clothing is to donate to charities and foundations. However, only about 0.1 per cent of recycled clothing collected by charities and take-back programmes is used to make new textile fibers.”