DESIGN FOR SORTING KNITWEAR - Interview transcripts with textile sorter and recycler

The problem of difficult-to-recycle textile waste is an ongoing challenge for the fashion and textile industry. However, the key strategies for ‘Design for Recycling’, namely mono-materiality and disassembly, are not able to address the blended textiles that have already been produced. The fashion industry has committed to using recycled fibres in their products, however, the seemingly unresolvable tension between the designers, recyclers, and sorters remains a barrier. <br> This research explores sorting practices of wool/acrylic blends in the mechanical wool recycling industry and the blending of recycled fibres to create new yarns. Expert interviews with a textile sorter from pakistan and recycler from Prato, Italy (the data provided here) were conducted to establish the different methods of sorting complex knitted textile waste. The interviews, along with other methods enabled the research to establish how the relationship between sorting in recovery and recycled blending in manufacture provides the foundations for a ‘Design for Sorting’ methodology.

难回收纺织废弃物问题是时尚与纺织行业长期面临的核心挑战。然而，"可回收性设计（Design for Recycling）"的两项核心策略——单一材质化与可拆卸性——无法应对已量产的混纺纺织品。时尚行业虽已承诺在产品中使用再生纤维，但设计师、回收商与分拣员之间看似难以调和的紧张关系，仍是推进相关工作的一大阻碍。
本研究探讨了机械羊毛回收行业中羊毛/腈纶（acrylic）混纺物的分拣实践，以及利用再生纤维混纺制备新型纱线的工艺。本次研究对来自巴基斯坦的一名纺织品分拣员与意大利普拉托的一名回收商开展了专家访谈（本次所用数据即来源于此），以此梳理复杂针织纺织废弃物的各类分拣方法。结合访谈与其他研究手段，本研究明确了回收环节分拣与制造环节再生纤维混纺之间的内在关联，该关联可为"分拣导向设计（Design for Sorting）"方法论的构建提供核心依据。