2022.02.04
Industrial Structure Issues Solved by Circular Economy: The "Consumer Cotton Project"
Currently, sustainability has become an important keyword throughout the industry. However, many of these efforts focus on environmental considerations in production and materials. There are not enough initiatives that involve consumers in methods of collection, recycling, and reuse beyond production.
In response, Shogo Minemura from ZOUKEI-KOUSOU launched the "Consumer Cotton Project" to realize a circular economy by focusing on cotton. We interviewed him about the project overview and the challenges in improving industrial structure.
PROFILE
Shogo Minemura
Service Designer
Master’s Second Year, Graduate School of Art & Design, Musashino Art University
After graduating from Aoyama Gakuin University, he worked in a textile trading company planning, developing, and marketing textiles. In 2015, he joined FABRIC TOKYO and was in charge of creative direction, BX design, and service design. On October 1, 2020, he established ZOUKEI-KOUSOU on Design Day.
Social Material Focused on Secondary Distribution
First, could you tell us about the "Consumer Cotton Project"?
The "Consumer Cotton Project" is a social material project that promotes circular economy in the apparel industry.
Specifically, the "Consumer Cotton Project" handles the "collection and sorting" of old cotton clothes when users are ready to dispose of them. It creates a platform that allows consumers to participate in the circular route by selecting and reusing the items.
For brands, it manufactures sustainable cotton derived from recycled old cotton clothes collected from consumers. When these clothes are re-manufactured into products, NFC chips are embedded in the material. These chips provide care and repair methods for long-term use and collection methods when disposing of clothes, enabling interaction between the products and their users. Currently, we are in the stage of implementing the aforementioned initiatives after establishing the project.
There are three main goals of this project: first, social innovation by each consumer; second, expanding the options for sustainable cotton by creating new recycled cotton; and finally, offering value to customers through utilization experiences with IoT products by integrating technology. This project aims to create a closed-loop industrial ecosystem.
Why did you focus on the material cotton?
First, there are human rights issues involved. Cotton is mainly produced in places like India, Egypt, and the United States. For example, the average lifespan of cotton farmers in India is said to be around 35 years.Organic cotton only constitutes about 1% of the market share, so most cotton uses pesticides. Farmers do not have the money to buy pesticides, so they have to borrow money. Since they cannot borrow from public institutions, they often borrow from loan sharks. When they can't repay the money, many end up committing suicide by drinking pesticides, leading to a situation where it is said that one cotton farmer commits suicide every 30 minutes. This industry has such a dark side and significant human rights issues.
Additionally, cotton uses a large amount of water. Ninety percent of the water used in the fashion industry is for cotton. In the primary industry stage, there is a focus on how to use fewer resources, and there are movements to improve conventional cotton, such as organic cotton. However, I believe the secondary distribution should be done more. Cotton is a material that warrants significant attention in this regard.
Lastly, cotton does not yet have an established route for secondary distribution. Although other companies' recycling projects have been gaining attention recently, cotton ideally needs its own collection route.
Extracting only specific materials doesn't create a proper cycle. Therefore, having routes for each material, such as other materials handled by other companies and cotton handled by the "Consumer Cotton Project," is crucial. Faced with this situation, I thought it would be beneficial to have a circular system for each material, which is one reason why I chose cotton.
Share Article
TOP ARTICLES
RELATED ARTICLES
CONTACT
If you have any questions or enquiries, please enter your details in the form below.