The clothing sector is among those with the highest impact on the environment, mainly as a result of the amount of textile waste produced and the difficulty posed by recycling clothing. The complexity of the process is due to the presence of different fibres in fabrics: while this is necessary to guarantee performance and quality, the result is that we encounter mixed fibres of lower quality when it comes to recycling.

The LIFE RE-TIGHTS project seeks to rise to this challenge, and aims to promote a circular economy able to turn used clothing into new, high-quality textile fibres at a competitive cost. As the name suggests, this project focuses on tights, an iconic item for the Calzedonia brand, which has a short life cycle, making it an ideal example for the move from a linear to a circular economy.

Tights are composed of two main fibres: polyamide and elastomer. Elastomer is essential for the quality and comfort of the product, but it is difficult to mechanically separate from the polyamide; this has prompted investment in alternative solutions, such as the chemical separation of the two fibres.

This ambitious project has been made possible by direct control over the whole production chain. The partners involved range from the spinning process to the sale of the tights, also including the weaving, dyeing and packaging phases. Thanks to LIFE RE-TIGHTS, the recycling phase will also be introduced, thus closing the circle.

A symbol of identity and elegance, but sometimes with a life cycle that lasts just one day: every year, billions of tights end up in landfill after being used briefly.

So, closing the product life cycle is essential to reduce environmental impact.

The collaboration between Golden Lady Company S.p.A., Calzedonia S.p.A., UNION S.p.A., Asendia Italy S.r.l. and Ytres d.o.o seeks to create a value chain able to bring on board the consumer and develop a new technology to recycle used tights that have been discarded, in order to turn them into new textile products (from TRL 6 and TRL 8).

Each player contributes their skills and knowledge to the success of the project.

Golden Lady, the project coordinator, is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of yarns and tights. Thanks to its vertically integrated supply chain, it controls both the product and the raw materials, allowing the company to guarantee quality. Golden Lady takes care of the separation and recycling of the used tights and the creation of a new polyamide yarn of equivalent quality to the virgin yarn. Calzedonia S.p.A. and its subsidiary Ytres d.o.o. take care of the phases subsequent to the production of new basic or fashion tights, items able to respond to the fashion demands of the moment, as well as guaranteeing comfort and maintaining an excellent price-quality ratio.

The separation and recycling plant (which can be viewed below), developed in collaboration with UNION S.p.A., is the technological and innovative core of the entire project, making it possible to separate and thus recover the synthetic fibres.

This project would not be possible without the widespread collection of used tights in Calzedonia stores. This phase is optimised by Asendia Italy S.r.l., which ensures the minimum logistic impact possible.

Finally, as the promoter of the campaign for the collection of the items in its own-brand stores, Calzedonia S.p.A. contributes to the spread and communication of the project, as well as the development of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and estimate of the environmental impacts of the product (as well as the manufacturing phases mentioned earlier).

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

Reference: LIFE22-ENV-IT-LIFE RE-TIGHTS/101113954

Acronym: LIFE RE-TIGHTS

Project objective: provide an innovative circular and sustainable solution for worn-out tights management

Duration: 36 months

Partners: 5

Language: Italian – English

Total Eligible Budget: 3.764.765.04€

EU Contribution: 2.258.859.03€