Seamless has published a set of circular clothing definitions to provide a shared language for the Australian clothing and textiles industry. They were developed and refined by people working across the sector to ensure they are practical, easy to use and grounded in real-world practice.
What’s the difference between recycling and remanufacturing clothing? Here are the definitions:
Recycle
To recycle is to breakdown a product or component thereof into its basic materials or substances and convert them into new products or secondary materials that are returned to productive use (excluding recovery). Recycling can occur in both closed-loop systems (where materials are recycled into the same product-type) and open-loop systems (where materials are recycled into different products).
Remanufacture
To remanufacture is to disassemble, reassemble and remake products and components into as-new condition with the same, or improved, level of performance as newly manufactured ones. This process may involve reassembling components into one or multiple products or combining elements from multiple products into one.
Find out more and download the circular clothing definitions here.
