Edinburgh Napier University

  This paper appraises how materials from industrial waste streams have been appropriated for design-craft processes – in this case, synthetic textile waste compression moulded into hard shell clutch bags.
Cross-referencing research-led practice with key texts (Klein 2008, 2010, 2014; Braungart and McDonough 2002; Bruno 2010) and the creative practice of others (Freitag, Salty Bags, Vlieger & Vandam), we will discuss the making processes and outcomes in the context of waste and sustainability
Responding to the financial crash of 2007, many have observed that we own too many things. Clothing is among the worst examples of our wastefulness, where in many high street shops t-shirts - made in appalling working conditions far away - are so cheap they are virtually disposable. Many consumers give little thought to the energy and natural resources required and human cost involved, while cheap, poor quality clothing quickly becomes waste.
Arguably, charity shops provide an effective way of recycling clothing. But nearly all clothes wear out, so this, as Braungart and McDonough would say, is really down-cycling - merely stopping off on its way to landfill. (2002: 4)
A case study from an MA design student major project illustrates issues of provenance around textiles production and waste and responds with making to affect a small, but meaningful difference to reducing waste.
There are numerous ways in which synthetic textiles can be recycled, including shredding, powdering and breaking down with cellulose, but all requiring industrial hardware and/or chemical processes.
The project aimed to find a simpler way to divert textile waste from landfill. Every year, 350,000 tons of clothes, approximately 1/3 of all the clothes sold in the UK, ends up in landfill (WRAP 2012: 2 and 12). Polyester is the second most dominant textile in garment manufacturing, after cotton. Throwing away worn out synthetic clothes is no different than throwing away plastic bottles without recycling them.
Synthetic fibres (polyester, nylon, polyamide etc.) are easily reshaped with heat, which fuses layers into a hardened textile boards without any additives or adhesives. At an early stage in the project, wardrobes (storage for clothes made from clothes) were considered, but the clutch bag was chosen for initial experiments due to it being a small-scale object. With greater resources it would be possible to build large suitcases and even chests of drawers which would have a more substantial and farther reaching impact on reducing waste.
Using an aluminium compression mould the fabric has been pressed into a new shape forming the shell of the clutch bag (see figs. 2 - 9). The making process fuses craft processes (sewing) with processes borrowed from heavier industry (compression moulding). Iterative experiments have been made, and the craft-design progress is on-going.
The development of these products has provided new insights on making and methods for exploiting waste streams, but also a critique on how we buy and own clothing.