Working at laboratory scale, project partner Sun Tekstil successfully knitted the first fabrics using PLASTICE yarns, closing an important loop in the project’s ambition to turn textile waste back into textiles. The 100% recycled polyester (r-PES) yarns, produced by KORTEKS, were validated on a laboratory-scale knitting machine — confirming that these novel recycled yarns can genuinely be used to make fabric.
The team didn’t stop at knitting. To check how the new fabrics behave under real production conditions, they ran a dyeing trial at 130 °C using conventional dyes and standard equipment. The results were encouraging: the fabrics showed good dyeability and high thermal stability, with no major shrinkage or deformation after high-temperature dyeing. Crucially, this trial also overcame the dimensional-stability problems the team had encountered in earlier work.
Together, these results confirm that PLASTICE recycled fabrics can be reprocessed using the conventional textile processes already in place across the industry — a major advantage for real-world adoption, since it means manufacturers wouldn’t need entirely new machinery to work with the material.
Scale-up work is now underway. Once complete, a pilot-scale fabric production will follow, verifying the industrial applicability of the technology and moving it a step closer to the market.
Lab. scale knitting machine used for first PLASTICE fabric development
PLASTICE yarn produced by KORTEKS on the lab scale knitting machine
First PLASTICE knitted fabric from lab scale machine
