Temporary Fashion Museum
Martijn van Strien's recycled, green spacer fabric comes from his collection ONE | OFF for mphvs. Some people call the material neoprene, others call it scuba material, but from a technical point of view this innovative material is Spacer Fabric.
Origins
Spacer consists of a 3D knitted fabric developed to trap a layer of air between two layers of material. Like many other new materials, it was initially developed for applications in aviation and medicine. It was later used in sports clothing and can now be seen in many fashion collections.
Recycling
This specific spacer fabric from the mphvs ONE | OFF collection is made from recycled polyester and used PET bottles. The used bottles are collected, sorted according to colour and ground into fine particles. The particles are then extruded to make fibres, as in 'normal' new polyester. The fibres are then woven or knitted to make a wide variety of materials.
Sustainability
Using recycled polyester instead of new polyester drastically reduces the amount of oil and water used to make this spacer fabric and also minimises CO2 emissions. The PET bottles are sorted by colour. The colour is maintained during the production process so that the spacer fabric 'naturally' has a light green colour: it does not need to be dyed. A lot of research is currently being conducted into sustainable dyeing methods, but avoiding dyeing remains the least polluting option.
More information about Martijn van Strien