Fibres · Regenerated
Regenerated / Recycled Fibres
The most sustainable choice in the catalogue: fibres recovered from offcuts and end-of-life garments that become yarn again with little water and little dye. In exchange it asks for a few compromises, because the short fibres give a varied, textured and slightly lived-in look.
Translated from Italian. A native knitter has not reviewed this translation yet.
History
Textile recycling is nothing new: Prato turned it into an industry as early as the nineteenth century with the "mechanical wool" made from rags, the well-known regenerated wool that clothed whole generations. On the other side of the world, the Indian city of Panipat has become today's capital of recovered fibre, mostly for blankets and bulky yarns. The same idea has now spread to cotton, polyester and blends, driven by the demand for circular fashion.
How the yarn is made
Garments and offcuts are sorted by colour and by composition, then pulled apart mechanically (garnetting) until they are loose fibre again. Every pass through the machine shortens and weakens the fibres a little, so recovered fibre is almost always blended with a share of virgin fibre or a synthetic carrier that gives back strength and spinnability. Sorting by colour makes it possible to spin without re-dyeing, and that is where most of the environmental saving comes from.
Why it is prized
Its value is ethical before it is technical: it keeps material out of landfill and cuts water, energy and dyes drastically compared with new fibre, because the colour already comes from the original garments. It also gives a rustic hand and a lived-in, flecked look full of character, which many people like precisely because it tells the story of its second life.
Dyeing
Often it is not dyed at all: the colour is inherited from the sorted and blended garments, so shade cards play on heathers, greys and earthy tones. When it is re-dyed the result is less predictable than with virgin fibre, because the fibre stock is already a mix of materials and shades that take up dye differently.
Care
Treat it with the care short fibres deserve: hand wash or a delicate cycle in cold water, no wringing, and dry flat. In the first wears it sheds a few pills and some fuzz: removing them with a de-piller when needed is part of the normal upkeep of these yarns.
End of life
It has already closed the loop once, but rarely twice: since the fibres are now short, a second mechanical recycling yields little. Biodegradability depends on the blend recipe: excellent if the recovered fibre is all natural, partial if it contains a synthetic share.
How to recognise it
| Hand | Rough and full-bodied, with an uneven, slightly hairy surface. To the touch you can feel the irregular fibre stock, less silky and drier than virgin fibre. |
|---|---|
| Look | Flecked and heathered, with specks of different colours and fuzz that surfaces early. It is precisely this uneven variety of colour that gives away its origin in recovered, blended materials. |
| Behaviour | Not very elastic: when stretched it returns to shape sluggishly and tends to give and relax with wear. The short fibres work their way out easily, so pilling and some breakage are its most typical weaknesses. |
| Burn test | Inconsistent signature because it is a blend: if the natural part dominates it burns with a smell of hair or paper and leaves crumbly ash; if there is a synthetic share, that part melts and balls up. The ambiguous behaviour is itself a clue that the fibre is recycled. |
| Home tests | Visual check: look for specks of different colours and fuzz, signs of a recovered blend · Elasticity test: stretch and release; recycled fibre returns slowly and gives · Burn test: if part of it melts into a hard bead and part burns to crumbly ash, it is a blend |
| Confused with | Low-grade virgin woollen-spun wool: similar to the eye, but more even, with longer and stronger fibre · Heathered yarns dyed on purpose: they imitate the flecked look but start from uniform fibre and do not pill straight away |
| Only in a lab | Establishing the exact blend composition and the actual percentage of recycled fibre requires laboratory analysis (ISO 1833 for fibre composition); by eye you can guess the origin but not the recipe. |
Physical facts
| Property | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| elastic memory | Low | research |
| sag | Medium | research |
| halo | Medium | research |
| felting risk | Medium (high risk of breakage and pilling because of the short fibres) | research |
| fineness (µm) | — | research |
| moisture regain (%) | — | research |
| typical shrinkage (%) | 0–10 | estimate |
| staple length (mm) | 10–40 | estimate |
measured = a measurement with a reference · iso = a standard · research = a verified source · estimate = plausibility only
Good for
eco-conscious projects · textured, rustic garments · heathered and flecked yarns · warm knitwear in dense stitches · accessories and bulky garments
Less good for
ribs and cuffs that need to spring back · smooth, flawless pill-free garments · fine work at high tension · garments exposed to heavy abrasion