Recycle Me is organic childrenswear brand Frugi’s pioneering new collection that focuses on circularity and features products designed specifically to be recycled when worn out. The collection reinforces the brand’s overall mission to ensure its clothing and the raw materials used to create them remain in play for as long as possible.
Frugi joined forces with the Circular Textiles Foundation just under a year ago as its first-ever children’s brand. It worked closely with the organisation to embed key circular principles in the collection’s design, development and manufacturing processes. Subsequently, the collection has been stamped with the Circular Textiles Foundation’s Infinitee mark. This certifies the clothes as recyclable, but is also a symbol of their genuine accountability and transparency.
This initiative is the first of its kind in the childrenswear market and is all about recycling clothes back into clothes.
Unlike traditional garment recycling − which is often about re-use or down-cycling as the clothes are shredded into scraps for padding and fillings – they do not end up in landfills or incinerators at the end of their usability. Instead, they are sent for recycling through the Circular Textiles Foundation to a specific recycling facility that will process them into new yarns.
These yarns can then be used to make new clothing, thereby eliminating waste, reducing the need for virgin materials and lowering CO2 emissions. This initiative is vital when considering that every second the equivalent of a rubbish truck of clothes is burnt or buried in a landfill; only one per cent of the materials used to create clothes are recycled back into new clothing.
Frugi’s clothes have always been designed with longevity in mind, using durable organic and in-conversion cotton alongside design details such as reversibility and “grow with me” extendable features. Commenting is Padouk Fielding, Head of Brand Partnerships for the Circular Textiles Foundation.
“It’s been brilliant working with the team at Frugi to support them in creating their first genuinely circular clothing range, certified as recyclable. This is ground breaking. They have shown how possible it is to embed circular principles into a clothing brand, continuing to raise the bar for childrenswear.’’
Frugi customers can join the brand on its circular journey this s/s 23 season by scanning the QR code on the clothing’s care label.
From there, they will discover how they can return and recycle the item after it has been passed on, patched up and worn out. The 29 products this season that carry the Circular Textiles Foundation certification mark will be helping to save 44,474 pieces from ending up in a landfill. The collection contains styles including the Lovely Babygrow, Snuggle Fleece and skater dress. One hundred per cent of Frugi’s knitted cardigans and jumpers have also been designed and certified as 100 per cent recyclable.
Jeni Bolton, Frugi’s Product and Brand Director, says; “Our design principle is to create beautiful products that bring joy, enable play, and withstand the wildest of explorations. Now that we are working together with the Circular Textiles Foundation, we are starting to design with an end-of-life solution in mind. We are so proud to have achieved this with our pioneering circular collection.
“We want to inspire the future generation by taking responsibility for our clothing and the impact it has on our planet. Kids don’t need more clothes, they need more trees to climb, fresher air and cleaner oceans to splash in.”
Frugi’s new Recycle Me range launches on 15 February within its main spring 2023 collection. The design and production teams at Frugi are now looking at expanding this collection even further into the range.
