The fashion industry in South Africa has high job creation potential, especially in the textile sector. However, about half of these manufacturers either dump at landfills, burn or sludge their waste fabric. Until now, there has simply been no recycling on a significant scale.

Rewoven diverts textile waste produced by clothing manufacturers from landfill in Cape Town by recycling and upcycling. They collect a range of raw materials: off-cut fabric, end-of-roll fabric, clothing rejects, and unsold inventory. The fabrics are then sorted into two different processes. Domestically recycled textile waste fibres are processed in South Africa and used as filling materials, construction insulation, disaster relief blankets and so on. 100% recycled fabrics are processed by Rewoven’s R&D partner in India – although their ultimate plan is to set up recycling facilities in South Africa. 

The team at Rewoven is also doing further research to understand the journey and impact of fashion waste. In 2020 they launched Future of Fashion, a sustainable fashion indaba dedicated to enabling collaborative knowledge-sharing that can help the development of a thriving, inclusive, ethical and future-fit local fashion industry.

This case study has been created as part of Footprints Africa's work to build the first ever comprehensive mapping of circular economy initiatives in Africa. This will lay the foundation open-source database that can inspire local initiatives, as well as inform the global dialogue, which is largely focused on the European and American contexts. We are doing this in collaboration with the African Circular Economy Network (ACEN). ACEN's vision is to build a restorative African economy that generates well-being and prosperity inclusive of all its people through new forms of economic production and consumption which maintain and regenerate its environmental resources.

The objective is to build an open-source database featuring 500 cases by the end of 2021, with strong regional representation. These will feature in the Knowledge Hub and are also being mapped by GRID-Arendal.