In pursuit of innovation and support for circular fashion, Italian textile company Manteco has created MWool, a zero-waste, fully traceable, luxury wool made from scrap fabric.
Some of the label’s top clientele for its luxury wool include H&M, Zara, Mango, Kering, Inditex, and LVMH.
Using mechanical recycling, the company recycles pre-consumer leftover fabric, post-consumer garments, and industrial waste into a soft, durable fabric that has the same qualities as wool.
Textile recycling is an efficient method to help reduce water pollution, landfill waste, and greenhouse gas emissions used in the production of apparel.
MWool is made using the company’s own scrap material and those collected from other companies and consumers. Despite being available in more than 1000 colours, it does not use any added chemicals or dyes but instead relies on its artisans to separate the scrap fabrics into their proper colour category.
The zero-waste luxury wool is internationally certified with an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) and a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).
According to the company, its recycling process requires certain craftsmanship, similar to a work of a painter, to calibrate colours on board before trying them on a canvas. In the case of its wool, the artisan has to control the way colour blends in the machine, and how many times the fibre will have to pass through before obtaining the finished product.
“We are ahead of the wave of sustainability and today we are gathering that effort,” Matteo Mantellassi, CEO of Manteco told MDS.
Aside from zero-waste luxury wool, the company also works with Tencel, BCI cotton, and certified virgin wool.
Since its launch, the company has saved more than 800,000 wool garments from going into landfills.
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