Yarn Recovery As a Recycling Method

Unspun has developed a new technology to manufacture clothing via an additive manufacturing process called 3D weaving. It is a direct-to-3D weaving loom called the 3DAWM (3D Automated Weaving Machine). The technology removes the need for expensive manual labor and will allow the manufacturing of clothing to be done domestically via automation with comparable economics to foreign production. Unspun believes this technology will be the key to a massive resurgence in American-made apparel and the future of a new, highly automated textile industry in America. Unspun, Inc. will support the DLA’s mission by explicitly addressing the challenges of developing a fully circular textile supply chain without compromising cost and technical performance. Unspun’s weaving technology weaves garment pant legs directly from yarn without seams, meaning much of the yarn can be extracted continuously and quickly prepared for reweaving back into a new garment.  This proposal aims to define the path to complete the development of an alternate fully circular supply chain for domestic production with improved lead times and reduced lifecycle costs. Additionally, Unspun’s technology is particularly well suited for building small quantities of on-demand clothing products in uncommon sizes that are difficult to forecast and are over-ordered due to minimum quantities. This issue alone creates enormous waste and unnecessary financial burdens. Unspun has also developed the technology to fit garments for uncommon body sizes without tailoring by efficiently achieving the perfect fit on any body shape by utilizing 3D body scans in the ordering process. Unspun believes that its paradigm-changing approach to clothing manufacturing via 3D weaving and its experience in custom-fit garments for the direct-to-consumer and business-to-business markets makes it an interesting partner to help bring domestic manufacturing back to American soil and meet Berry Amendment requirements[1] for domestic government purchasing. Unspun can also support advanced functionality, such as integrating conductive yarns for wearable sensors. Unspun’s technology is uniquely suited for these applications as its products are woven seamlessly, and the yarns are continuous. In addition to the 3D weaving system and supporting design, Unspun has developed commercial body scanning and software fitment technologies that allow customization for individual, performance-optimized products through remote smartphone and in-store body scanning. Unspun has already created numerous types of commercial 3D woven pants using its machine, demonstrating both the capabilities of the weaving approach and the body-scan-enabled custom-fit of products using the computerized scanning apps. The focus of the proposed project is to develop a technology that will pair with Unspun’s other technologies to complete a circular supply chain by extracting the yarn from a garment at the end of its life and reweaving it into a new garment.