Debrand awarded funding to target plastic apparel waste

Debrand, a Metro Vancouver-based leader in textile sustainability and circularity logistics for top apparel and retail brands across North America, has been awarded more than 325,000 Canadian dollars in funding from the CleanBC Plastics Action Fund, administered by the Province of British Columbia and Alacrity Canada through the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy.

The grant has been awarded to support Debrand's new research and development initiative focused on unlocking circular infrastructure for plastic-based apparel and textiles, by diverting those that are currently deemed non-reusable from landfill by integrating them into the region's growing ecosystem of circular material solutions.

Amelia Eleiter, co-founder and chief executive of Debrand, said in a statement: "Plastic-derived textiles contribute to a significant portion of today's fashion system, making up about 60 percent of the world's clothing. The industry has a responsibility to reduce its impact by extending the life of the materials that have already been extracted.

"This funding allows us to go deeper into understanding apparel's plastic waste stream here in B.C. and apply advanced sortation technology to better understand what's possible, so we can design smarter circular systems that valorise these materials, not waste them."

Debrand's initiative will leverage its automated sortation machinery and proprietary software to analyse plastic-based apparel and textiles currently in circulation. By sorting these garments with precision and identifying their material composition, the project aims to better understand the operational and economic requirements needed to prepare these items for appropriate reuse and recycling pathways.

The Canadian company is North America’s most comprehensive textile sustainability and circularity hub for top apparel, footwear, and retail brands, including Lululemon, Everlane, Aritzia, Canada Goose, Target, and Eileen Fisher. Based in Metro Vancouver, Debrand also has facilities across the US.