Resortecs contributes to circular textiles with innovative sewing thread

Fashion, marketing and engineering studies: these are the foundations on which CEO Cédric Vanhoeck built Resortecs. With their innovative sewing thread Smart Stitch, they help clothing manufacturers recycle textiles in a high-quality way. Good for the environment and the wallet.

Today, the textile industry is still primarily a linear economy. Discarded and unsold clothing is often burned or dumped in the desert, and new clothing is mostly made from new raw materials. Due to this linear production, the fashion industry generates more than 1.2 billion tons of CO2 equivalent per year. Cédric Vanhoeck wanted to do something about this.

Vanhoeck: "One of the reasons why textiles are barely recycled is because the dismantling process is often difficult and time-consuming. It is difficult to keep the quality of the recovered textiles high enough to be reused in a valuable way."

Soluble sewing thread ensures quality dismantling

That is why Resortecs developed an innovative sewing thread, Smart Stitch. In specially developed ovens, this thread dissolves at the right temperature and under the right conditions, without damaging the fabric. This causes the clothing to literally fall apart, and most of the textile can be reused without loss of quality.

Vanhoeck: "Of course, the thread must not dissolve in the dryer or under the iron. In trousers or shirts, we use a different type of thread than, for example, a ski jacket. Smart Stitch comes in 4 variants, each of which dissolves at a different temperature between 140 and 190 degrees, taking into account the use and material composition of the product."

 

Value of old products three to five times higher

An old piece of clothing is worth much less than the individual pieces of fabric from a recycled piece of clothing. According to Vanhoeck, you can triple or quintuple the value of an old product by dismantling it and delivering it to recycling companies that are looking for pure feedstock.

Vanhoeck: "Those companies are willing to pay extra for pure materials. Especially if you can deliver quality pieces without zippers, buttons and other waste, you create value for fashion brands to reuse. With around 10% in returns or recovery, you can break even. If you recover more, you earn money from the value of the sorted material."

Missing link between fashion brands and recycling companies

Resortecs does not only want to position itself as a producer of Smart Stitch and the special dismantling ovens but sees itself as an additional player that bridges the gap between clothing brands and sorting or recycling companies.

Vanhoeck: "We don't just want to provide the tools but be an active part of the circular economy. That is why we work closely with recycling companies and clothing brands. Producers have overproduction, unsold items and sold items that are returned, for example, through a take-back policy. Recycling companies are looking for pure feedstock, high-quality materials. We bridge the gap between both needs."

People often throw away clothes too. Those pieces don't come back and are lost, ending up in a large landfill at worst. Resortecs wants to make the returned portion of sold clothing larger and larger together with the brands. In collaboration with the sorters, or 1 on 1 with the end customer.

Complete circular system

Today you can already find the Smart Stitch sewing thread in clothing from, among others, Bershka, Decathlon, and H&M, but there are still many collaborations in the pipeline.

Vanhoeck: "We don't necessarily want to have as many partners as possible today. Our focus is now on the development of the entire system. The changed European legislation on sustainable and circular textiles will encourage more and more companies to close the loop. At Resortecs, we are already looking beyond just sewing thread and focusing on a complete, efficient disassembly model. This way, we are positioning ourselves even more as the missing link between the textile industry and recycling companies."

Want to know more? Visit www.resortecs.com.