Elastane and polyester make clothes stretch, and feel smooth against our skin, and has become the superstar of modern sportswear. Unfortunately, it’s not just durable at the gym. It’s resilient at the recycling plant as well. Re:lastane is changing the game.

When an end-of-life garment enters the Re:lastane system, a mild chemical process that only targets the garment’s polyester fibers begin. It breaks them down into tiny building blocks — called monomers — and collects them. The process is so gentle, that the elastane thread is left intact. When the recycling process is finished, two materials are ready to be re-made into regenerated garments.

Re:lastane doesn’t just give us the possibility to recycle more of our clothes. Its process is water-free and effectively reduces the industry’s need to produce virgin elastane, which both emits carbon and has high toxicity.

VIDEO 55 seconds

Team members: Dr. Jack Liu, Dr. Debin Mao, Wenjian Hu, Shan Wei and Gang Wang
Country: China
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