The textile industry uses a wide variety of fabrics, both natural and synthetic, to manufacture garments for different uses and climates. However, the blending of multiple fibers in a single garment presents a significant recycling challenge. The difficulty lies in separating and reprocessing these components to reuse them in new yarns and fabrics. Recently, new technologies based on artificial intelligence are revolutionizing this process, such as the solutions developed by coleo.es that enable the creation of recycled yarns with diverse compositions.
Main types of textile fabrics
-
Cotton: A natural fiber widely used for its softness, strength, and breathability. Ideal for t-shirts, underwear, and everyday garments.
-
Polyester: A durable synthetic fiber, wrinkle-resistant and quick-drying. Commonly found in sportswear and easy-care garments.
-
Wool: A natural insulating and durable fiber used in warm clothing.
-
Viscose: A semi-synthetic fiber, fresh and lightweight, used in summer clothes.
-
Nylon: Synthetic, lightweight and water-resistant, common in sports and outdoor apparel.
-
Spandex (Elastane): Synthetic, highly elastic, ideal for fitted and sportswear.
-
Blended fabrics: Combinations like polyester-cotton or polyester-viscose are very frequent to improve functional and aesthetic properties.
(These fabrics may be combined within a single garment to provide comfort, durability, or design but complicate traditional recycling).
Challenges in recycling multicomponent fabrics
When a garment consists of several fibers, separating them is complex because:
-
Chemical and mechanical processes tend to differ for each fiber.
-
The blend complicates the production of high-quality recycled materials.
-
Manual or traditional methods of separation and classification are slow and costly.
-
Heterogeneity reduces the purity and performance of the recycled yarn.
This represents a major challenge in achieving a true circular economy in fashion, where textile waste can be reprocessed into reusable materials with optimal properties.
New AI technologies for recycling and multicomponent yarns
-
Computer vision and machine learning to identify and classify fibers in complex blends. AI analyzes images and spectra to recognize the exact fabric composition.
-
Innovative combined mechanical and chemical recycling processes, adapted according to the detected blend to extract usable fibers without degrading them.
-
Creation of multicomponent recycled yarns, combining natural and synthetic fibers in controlled proportions to obtain yarns with desired functional characteristics (flexibility, strength, softness).
-
Automatic process optimization to maximize efficiency and final product quality through continuous feedback to AI models.
These innovations overcome traditional limitations and valorize hard-to-recycle materials, enhancing sustainability in the textile industry with high-quality recycled products.
The variety and blending of textile fibers in garment manufacturing pose significant recycling challenges. However, emerging technologies based on artificial intelligence, like the solutions from coleo.es, are driving a qualitative leap, allowing classification, separation, and reconstruction of multicomponent recycled yarns with great efficiency. These advancements are key to closing the life cycle of garments and moving towards a more sustainable and circular fashion model.
