Taiwanese textile manufacturers have worked hard to develop fabrics that are environmentally friendly and innovative. According to Taiwan’s cabinet-level Council for Economic Planning and Development, Taiwanese manufacturers are responsible for providing 70 percent of the international market for green textiles, reported Taiwan Panorama. As the leading supplier of the world’s functional clothing, it is crucial for Taiwan to set future trends in textile manufacturing. And the island is doing just that by recycling much of its plastic (PET) bottles and coffee grounds back into fabrics.
The island is only the 4th country to make yarn from recycled PET plastic bottles, after the United States, Germany and Japan. In 1995, Ecomax Textile was the first company on the island to figure out how to recycle PET bottles into yarn. Initially, they were only able to offer a material made from 60 percent recycled bottles, but by 2000, they were able to create long-fiber from PET bottles alone.
In 2005, Jason Chen, the general manager of Singtex was intrigued by an idea of using coffee grounds to offset odor. The idea came when his wife saw someone ask a barista for leftover coffee grounds to absorb odors. That led Chen to begin experimenting with coffee for the next three years before coming upon the right combination. He initially left the coffee smell in the fabric, but it soon became apparent that the mix of sweat and coffee proved too overpowering, and the smell was later eliminated.
Since then, the fabric made with coffee grounds turned into 400-nanometer granules has officially been branded as S.Café. It is used in over 70 international outdoor clothing brands, such as North Face, Patagonia and Adidas, according to Taiwan Panorama. Currently, Singtex collects coffee grounds from Starbucks, Mr. Brown’s Coffee and other coffee outlets.
Flycool is another company getting a lot of attention for its unique fabric which allows the wearer to feel 1 to 5˚C cooler based on their activity level. In essence, Flycool material will make the hot weather seem less stifling to the wearer.
Billy Hu, the company’s general manager said initially, the idea of creating something that would be comfortably dry and cool seemed technically contradictory. After studying several minerals, they found that by adding simple jade stone particles to the textile, it kept the material cool to the touch. Finally Hu began working with DuPont (Taiwan) to create an environmental fabric that would help the fabric to “absorb heat slowly , but disperse heat quickly” and also to incorporate absorption properties that allow it to dry quickly.
Today, Taiwan is not only re-using and recycling everyday materials, but also going one better by adding value to make the material multi-functional and biodegradable. In the future, it is very likely that the clothes you purchase might indicate how many plastic bottles and cups of coffee went into making them. By adding such information, it will allow consumers to educate themselves and live a life with ecological consciousness.