I am proud of what we have built at Kusaga Athletic as a leader in sustainable apparel and part of a new wave of companies that believe in profit for purpose through collaboration, communication and innovation. The fact that we at Kusaga Athletic are not only the designers, the sales team, and the marketers, but the fibre gathers, the cut sew team, and the waste disposal team means that we understand our product backwards. Unlike any other brand in the world, we have invented a fabric from the ground, made it into a garment and follow it all the way back into the Earth. The problem for me is that despite what we have built, the mountains of textiles piling up around the planet in landfill are getting bigger. Back in 2000 when the concept of ‘fast’ fashion first took off, the fashion industry produced 50 billion garments per year. In just four years, those 50 billion garments doubled to 100 billion.
AND IF THOSE NUMBERS ARE ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO PROCESS, THINK ABOUT THIS: 85% OF THESE GARMENTS END UP IN LANDFILL.EVERY SECOND, THE EQUIVALENT OF ONE GARBAGE TRUCK OF TEXTILES IS SENT TO LANDFILL OR BURNED.
We simply cannot continue this way. Thankfully, there are individuals and companies leading industry change, unlocking new approaches to old methods, combining our current day and future technologies with nature.At the same time, while technology is taking us in the right direction, the fashion industry continues to create planet-damaging materials and fast fashion continues to drive over supply.
IN THE TIME IT TAKES TO READ THIS ARTICLE, ANOTHER 6,000 KG OF AUSTRALIAN TEXTILES HAS BEEN DUMPED IN LANDFILL. Which, if you think about it, means that it is really logical to start to focus on recycling textiles. At that is exactly what we are doing with BlockTexx. In the not too distant future, the same textiles tossed out so carelessly last week, may just be the clothes that literally are the shirt on someone's back next week.Through BlockTexx, we are advancing the traditional manufacturing model by using blockchain technology and internet of things to unlock value from pre and post consumer textile waste along the traditional supply chain. Our aim is to identify future products streams that will close the product life cycle loop and divert textile waste away from landfill and into other products.In the coming months, if you sign up for updates at Blocktexx, we will keep you posted on progress, but we are on track to reinvent the way the fashion industry does business. The way it’s structured today is not set up to solve the problems we have created for ourselves as a society. Images: Kusaga | Blocktekk | Shredex