Dive Brief:
- Shein has developed a polyester recycling process designed to reduce the heavy use of virgin polyester in its clothing production, according to a press release last week.
- The process accepts both pre- and post-consumer polyester feedstock, including textile waste and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles.
- Through this new process, the company said it intends to transition 31% of polyester used in its Shein-branded products to recycled polyester by 2030, per the release.
Dive Insight:
Shein said it will make the new technology available to selected partner fiber manufacturers in an effort to expand the process from laboratory-sized to a larger commercial scale. The company added that it expects to begin large-scale production in June, with an annual target production capacity of 3,000 metric tons.
Developed over several years in conjunction with Donghua University, the process is meant to result in improved cost efficiency for Shein, compared to the brand’s current recycled polyester options, according to the release.
Shein officials said the development uses both mechanical and chemical processes, and that finished products can be recycled repeatedly without significant impact on the material properties of the resulting fabric.
“Our goal is to leverage innovation and technology to help solve industry-wide challenges,” Leonard Lin, Shein’s General Manager of Singapore, said in the release. “This will be a critical step towards our goal of reducing our reliance on virgin polyester and supporting a broader industry transition.”
Virgin polyester currently accounts for the majority of fibers that Shein uses in its production, and it only uses 7.9% recycled polyester, according to a company spokesperson. The company feels that its new process can and should be used and shared by other companies, and that reducing waste in fashion is an industry-wide issue.
Shein joins a number of companies that have been working to incorporate recycled material in their product offering, including Adidas, Nike, Levi’s, H&M, The North Face and Patagonia.
“Focusing on creating products that are made to be recycled is important for a fast fashion company,” Brian Ehrig, partner at consulting firm Kearney, said in an email. “Most of the waste in fast fashion is caused by creating excess inventory that is never sold. If it could be more feasible to recycle clothes that never left a Shein factory or warehouse, that would be huge.”
Ehrig added that the brand should take it one step further to truly make a difference.
“Imagine Shein including a way to collect their used goods as a future initiative or even spearheading an industry consortium to do the same,” Ehrig said. “If they could do that, they would be covering both the new and used side of circularity and that would truly be a game changer.”
Earlier this month, Shein launched a charitable foundation to foster “inclusive and sustainable communities,” Its first grant was a $5.2 million donation to the Africa Collect Textiles Foundation for its used textile collecting and recycling program in Kenya.
