WENZHOU, China (AP) 鈥� China is the world鈥檚 largest textile producer and consumer, throwing away 26 million tons of clothes each year, mostly made of unrecyclable synthetics.
A recycling factory in Zhejiang province on China鈥檚 east coast repurposes discarded cotton clothes to try to deal with the urgent waste problem. So, too, are young innovative designers in Shanghai, by remaking old garments into new ones or creating clothing out of waste items such as plastic bottles, fishing nets, flour sacks and even pineapple leaves.
But these efforts are dwarfed by giant fast-fashion brands churning out cheap synthetic garments for a consumer base spreading rapidly across the world. Experts believe real change is only possible through an elusive zero-waste workflow or Chinese government intervention.
Here are key takeaways from AP鈥檚 report:
Cotton is recycled in China, not fast-fashion synthetics
At the Wenzhou Tiancheng Textile Company,鈥痬ounds of discarded鈥痗otton clothing, loosely separated into dark and light colors, pile up on a workroom floor. Jacket sleeves, collars and brand labels protrude from the stacks as workers feed the garments into shredding machines.
It鈥檚 the first stage of a new life for the textiles at one of the largest cotton recycling plants in China.
But factories like this one are barely making a dent in a country whose clothing industry is dominated by 鈥渇ast fashion鈥濃��� cheap clothes made from synthetics, not cotton.鈥疨roduced from petrochemicals that contribute to climate change, air and water pollution, synthetics account for 70% of domestic clothing sales in China.
Textile waste is an urgent global problem, according to fashion sustainability鈥痭onprofit Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Even less 鈥� only 1% 鈥� are castoff clothes recycled into new garments. In China, only about 20% of textiles are recycled, according to the Chinese government 鈥� and almost all of that is cotton.
To achieve a game-changing impact, what fashion expert Shaway Yeh calls 鈥渃ircular sustainability鈥� is needed among major Chinese clothing brands so waste is avoided entirely.
鈥淵ou need to start it from recyclable fibers and then all these waste textiles will be put into use again,鈥� she said.
Chinese cotton carries the taint of forced labor
Chinese cotton has a taint of its own, said Claudia Bennett of the nonprofit Human Rights Foundation. in Xinjiang province by the country鈥檚 ethnic Uyghur minority.
鈥淥ne-in-five cotton garments globally is linked to Uyghur forced labor,鈥� Bennett said.
In May, the U.S. blocked imports from 26 Chinese cotton traders to avoid goods made with Uyghur forced labor. But because the supply chain is so sketchy, Uyghur cotton is used in garments produced in countries that , Bennett said.
鈥淢any, many, many clothing brands are linked to Uyghur forced labor through the cotton,鈥� she said. They 鈥渉ide behind the lack of transparency in the supply chain.鈥�
Fast-fashion brands score low on sustainability
According to a report from independent assessing major clothing companies on their environmental, human rights and equitability practices, there鈥檚 little accountability among the most well-known brands.
The group gave under its label, just 6 out of a possible 150 points. Chinese fast-fashion e-commerce juggernaut Temu scored zero.
Also getting zero were U.S. label SKIMS, co-founded by Kim Kardashian, and low-price brand Fashion Nova. U.S. retailer Everlane was the highest scorer at 40 points, with only half for sustainability practices.
China's domestic policy doesn't help
Cotton recycled from used clothing is banned from being used to make new garments inside China. This rule was鈥痠nitially鈥痑imed at stamping out fly-by-night Chinese operations recycling contaminated material.
But now it means the huge spools of tightly woven rope-like cotton yarn produced at the Wenzhou Tiancheng factory from used clothing can only be sold for export, mostly to Europe.
Making matters worse, many Chinese鈥痗onsumers are unwilling to buy used items, something the Wenzhou factory sales director, Kowen Tang, attributes to increasing household incomes.
鈥淭hey want to buy new clothes, the new stuff,鈥� he said.
Young Chinese designers create sustainable fashions
Among younger Chinese, a growing awareness of sustainability has鈥痗ontributed to the emergence of fledgling 鈥渞emade鈥� clothing businesses.
Thirty-year-old designer Da Bao founded Times Remake in 2019, a Shanghai-based brand that takes secondhand clothes to create funky new fashions.
The venture, which鈥痓egan鈥痺ith Da Bao posting one-off designs online, now has a flagship store in Shanghai that stocks remade garments alongside vintage items.
The designs are 鈥渁 combination of the past style and current fashion aesthetic to create something unique,鈥� Bao said.
Zhang Na has a fashion label, Reclothing Bank, that sells clothes, bags and other accessories made from waste materials such as plastic bottles, fishing nets and flour sacks.
The items鈥� labels have QR codes showing their composition, how they were made and the provenance of the materials. Zhang draws on well-established production methods, including textile fibers made from pineapple leaf, a centuries-old tradition originating in the Philippines.
鈥淲e can basically develop thousands of new fabrics and new materials,鈥� she said.
What is the future?
Recycled garments have a much higher price tag than fast-fashion brands鈥痙ue to their costly production methods.
And that's the problem, said Sheng Lu, professor of fashion and apparel studies at the University of Delaware.
鈥淪tudies repeatedly show consumers are not willing to pay higher for clothing made from recycled materials, and instead they actually expect a lower price because they see such clothing as made of secondhand stuff,鈥� he said.
With higher costs in acquiring, sorting and processing used garments, he doesn鈥檛 see sustainable fashion succeeding on a wide scale in China, where clothes are so cheap to make.
鈥淐ompanies do not have the financial incentive,鈥� he said. For real change there needs to be 鈥渕ore clear signals from the very top,鈥� he added, referring to government targets like
At least for now, 鈥渇ast fashion definitely is not out of fashion鈥� in China, Lu said.
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Associated Press writer Isabella O鈥橫alley in Philadelphia contributed to this report.
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The Associated Press鈥� climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP鈥檚 for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at .
Tian Macleod Ji, The Associated Press
