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The Cycle Of WOODs

Woods  

Anniek SchrijenKelly HailGeraldine de MuynckPaula Stina TasaneGerjan Vloedgraven

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FABRICS

WOODs denim will consist of Tencel and hemp, having its origin entirely in nature. While Tencel is produced from the wood pulp extracted from eucalyptus trees, the hemp fibers are provided by the hemp plant. This will produce a fully biodegradable denim. The Tencel component which will be supplied by the Lenzing Group, will benefit our denim in the following ways: -regularly optimizing the absorption of moisture -natural cooling through temperature control-reduction of bacteria growth-durable, but soft and smooth to the skin-part of the cellulose cycle and fully biodegradable-economical use of energy and water in production process

The natural strength of the hemp component as well as the rougher texture will complement Tencel in creating a strong but also very soft and comfortable denim.

The following characteristics will be beneficial in our use of hemp fiber:

-one of the strongest and most durable natural fibres-holds its shape and hardly stretches with use-high absorbency and can retain its color very well -grows very fast and densely- high yield crop→ produces much more fiber than a cotton plant-no pesticides or herbicides needed due to natural resistance→good anti-bacterial-natural resistance to ultraviolet light -can be grown in most climates-traditional methods of mechanical hemp processing are eco-friendly but more labour-intensive.

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Our knits will be made from recycled PET bottles. These will be gathered from PET recycling companies. As the tops consist out of 100% polyester, they will eventually go back to the technological Cradle to Cradle cycle and be able to be reused in the industry again.

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Since WOODs is providing a barbering corner within its store, there will be a high amount of hair pollution. WOODs does not like the idea of throwing these precious resources away. Therefore, WOODs will assimilate this hair into the garments’ buttons.

WOODs creates these buttons by pouring natural latex into button-shaped moulds, blended with a generous amount of hair. Once the substance is hardened, the buttons can be removed from the moulds and sewed onto the garments.

HAIR BUTTONS

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DYEINGPROCESS

Jeans

The process of dyeing jeans has always been one of the major problems of turning jeans into an environmental-friendly product. WOODs will use one of the oldest techniques to dye jeans blue: natural indigo. An advantage of this method is a higher colour intensity than when using synthetic indigo. Furthermore, dyeing with natural indigo does not involve any toxics besides soda which can easily be removed from the water.

One of the disadvantages of using natural indigo will be the high labour intensity leading to high costs. However, this will also be an opportunity for WOODs to participate in fair trade.

Moreover, a high amount of water will be used in this process. To solve this problem, WOODs will use a new technique of water-treatment that will clean the used water. This technique ensures WOODs can reuse this water again in the process of dyeing jeans.

Tops

WOODs will dye its tops by using the AirDye-technique. The AirDye can only be used with synthetic materials and since the tops will be made of polyester, this will not be a limitation.This method is based on dyeing in a gaseous state and on penetration of the material by heating it. Due to this penetration, the dye is able to attach itself to the material much better than with regular dyes. This ensures a more durable product.

AirDye eliminates hazardous wastewater as a by-product of dyeing fabric. Besides this, it uses up to 86% less energy.

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FROMJEANSTO

PAPER

Since jeans have a big impact on the ecological footprint, WOODs has decided to make paper out of jeans. In this way the jeans get a second life and at the same time WOODs ensures the protection of forests. To achieve that goal, WOODs will ask the customers to return their worn-out jeans to the store. This way, WOODs will make its customers act towards the Cradle to Cradle ideology.

To accomplish the papermaking process, the jeans need to be cut into pieces and put into a pulp machine. Once the pulp has been made, it is put into a mould and pressed by heavy weights. After this process, the pressed paper needs to be dried in an air dryer. The paper is now finished. Throughout the entire process no chemicals are used. This method of papermaking can be practiced with all natural fibres.

WOODs will use the paper internally for e.g. hang and price tags, receipts, patterns and packaging. Once the paper is at the end of its lifecycle, it will be up cycled into energy.

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SOCIALRESPONSIBILITY

By using the previously mentioned conventional techniques, WOODs both contributes to a natural process and emphasizes on craftsmanship and skilled labour. WOODs sees this opportunity to engage in social responsibility and protect the well-being of the workers by ensuring fair labour practices.

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USEOF

ENERGY

Water windmills

As mentioned, the dyeing process of WOODs’ denim will still consume a lot of water. The polluted water will be treated by a system involving windmills.

The company DutchRainmaker came up with a solution for cleaning polluted water by using the strength of the wind. The basic idea behind it is using wind to provide energy for the windmill, which will then use this energy to purify water.

By cleaning the dye-water, we can reuse it for new dyeing processes and furthermore for turning the jeans into paper.

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Paper batteryAs WOODs discovered that the paper made from jeans could be upcycled into energy, WOODs decided to incorporate with a provider of batteries that run on paper. Due to a special reaction between carbon nanotubes, silver nanowires and pieces of used paper, an amount of energy can be produced.

Other production processes will also include forms of renewable energies such as solar power and wind energy. In that way, WOODs contributes to a better environment.

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THE CRADLE TO CRADLE

CIRCLESTencel and Hemp

Jeans

Cutting the jeans

Jeans-pulp

Jean

s-paper

Paper-battery

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Internal use

Shaving

Collecting the hair

Buttons out of hair

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Indigo plant

Natural indigoDyeing the fabric

Indi

go dyed jeans

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Polluted w

ater

Purifacation

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