Have you ever wondered how recycled clothes are made?
First step is sourcing raw materials. Different plastics have different sources. Recyclable plastic bottles are made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), whereas old fishing nets can be recycled to retrieve nylon. Some recyclable plastics can even be retrieved directly from ocean litter. The main synthetic used in Legenda Cycling kits is polyester, which comes from PET bottles.
Second step is processing raw materials. On average it takes 6 to 9 plastic bottles to make 1 garment. The bottles are first collected, washed, and cut into flakes, before being melted and processed into yarn. As well as using pre-existing plastic, which reduces waste, recycled polyester has several other environmental advantages. It reduces reliance on crude oil, which is the raw material used to make ‘virgin polyester’. Oil is refined and chemically modified, before being polymerised into polyester. This polymer is then spun into yarns, before being woven into fabrics. The impacts of this process include extensive energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, and clean water use. Recycled polyester manufacture reduces each of these impacts by one third to a half.
Last step is designing and manufacturing of cycling kits. All Legenda kits are designed in Melbourne, Australia.