Zero-waste luxury wool made from recycled garments

Every step in the production process is traced and mapped for full transparency

Spotted: Thousands of litres of water are used in the production of a single t-shirt, making textile recycling a highly effective method of reducing water pollution, landfill, and greenhouse gas emissions. Now, an Italian luxury fabric company has mastered the art of wool recycling to create a fully circular, high-end fabric that is completely traceable.  

Using mechanical recycling, Manteco transforms pre-consumer scraps and leftovers, post-consumer garments and, industrial waste into soft, durable and sustainably coloured yarns and fabrics. Manteco’s MWool is internationally certified with a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), and the company’s processes saved more than 800,000 wool garments from entering landfill in 2021.

Available in more than 1,000 colours, MWool contains no added chemicals or dyes. The colour of each fabric comes from the specific blend of recycled wools created by the company’s expert mixologists. Manteco recycles its own production scraps as well as those of other companies, creating a zero-waste product that is fully traceable.

Every business in the Manteco supply chain follows the company’s charter of commitments regarding sustainability and traceability. Those partners are also digitally mapped for a comprehensive overview of every step in the production process, and Manteco provides reports detailing the life cycle of their fabrics for clients.

Other means that Springwise is spotting for reducing the carbon footprint of textiles include a B2B platform that matches buyers and sellers of excess fabrics and smart threads that make it easy to disassemble and recycle clothes.