Circular Economy: Analysis of the Utility of Recycled Cotton on Denim Production

Abstract Circular economy has become a “buzzword” in the modern manufacturing sectors over the last few decades. However, ever-growing industries like denim are hardly seen to be acquainted with such circular economy strategies and sustainable approaches. As a consequence, denim sector faces acute environmental challenges, such as, high volume water consumption, intensive energy and chemical inputs and large-scale waste generation. These substantial environmental pressures are urging a shift toward circular-economy strategies that prioritize reuse, recycling, and design for longevity in the denim industry. Prior research works had only focused on physical, chemical properties of denim, but those don’t illustrate recycling of post-industrial waste alongside creating a solution by addressing prominent environmental burdens. This research work explores circular economy strategies for denim by utilizing blended yarn (20% recycled cotton, 80% BCI cotton) to create three recycled fabrics with different counts (7 OE X 10 OE, 10 OE X 10 OE, and 9 OE X 10 OE), which are appeared to demonstrate performance metrics closely comparable to those of 100% BCI cotton. These three recycled fabrics are manufactured using post-industrial waste materials, which will lead to advance circular economy and sustainable production processes. Despite some minor difficulties in wet rubbing fastness, recycled cotton integration in denim manufacturing represents satisfactory physical and color fastness characteristics and will be able to meet industrial durability and consumer satisfaction requirements. Beside optimizing resource utility and improved denim performance through circular economy strategy, this research method will serve as a forthcoming benchmark. in the denim industries.