COOLOO CIRCULAR CANOPY

The textile and clothing sector is one of the most polluting value chains across the world. Fashion has become cheaper and seasonal collections are changing ever faster. Cheap and low-quality materials have shortened the actual time of usage and reduced the value of textile waste. Some garments are actually worn only 7-10 times before they are trashed. Cheap bulk production results in tons of unused, unsold and wasted clothes. In Amsterdam, 14,000 tons of textiles gets disposed annually. One-third gets collected and reused as clothing, while remaining ends in residual waste streams, reused as a resource or incinerated. Textile collected through underground and above ground containers too often gets polluted with residual or organic waste, and as such inappropriate for reuse.

With the belief that ‘waste is not waste until you waste it’, the work wants to promote a collective understanding of the unseen value of trashed textile resources. Through storytelling, collective making, the use of new technologies and by working with resources saved from incineration, the final products demonstrate their value and showcase strategies that could bring a cultural change around the concept of circularity.