Businesses collaborate to make sustainable zero waste fashion a reality
Huddersfield-based textile recycling specialist, iinouiio, part of the Camira Group, has joined forces with two other businesses to create a recycled merino wool yarn made from cutting waste which would otherwise go into landfill.
It has partnered with apparel brand, Superlove Merino, and knitwear designer and manufacturer, OUBAS.
The recycled merino wool yarn, ReMerino® is produced using offcuts generated from the garment manufacturing process at Superlove Merino’s solar-powered factory in the Lake District.
Using iinouiio’s textile recycling technology, based at Camira Yarns in Birkby, Huddersfield, the first development of recycled ReMerino® yarn was produced in summer 2024.
It will be used to create a limited run of luxury women’s knitwear in collaboration with Kate Stalker of OUBAS, a knitwear designer and manufacturer based in Ulverston, Cumbria.
Founder of iinouiio, Dr John Parkinson, said: “Some people call discarded or unwanted textiles ‘waste’, but to us it’s just a raw material – too often limited only by imagination and skill.
“We’re incredibly proud to have been able to support two fantastic like-minded northern businesses, who share a passion for textiles and sustainability, to transform their cutting room floor waste into beautiful luxury merino wool knitwear.”
Director of Superlove Merino, Becky Sayer, added: “We are thrilled to see this transformation of our cutting room waste into such beautifully crafted pieces.
“We are known for our timeless, wearable designs, so we wanted this recycled knitwear to align with that too.
“We hope, on seeing what even small indie brands can do with innovative collaborations like this, others will be inspired to tackle the serious waste issues associated with the textiles industry.”
Founded in 2019 by Dr John Parkinson and his wife, Linda, whose family heritage lies in the “shoddy and mungo” textile recycling mills which thrived in West Yorkshire in the 19th and early 20th centuries, iinouiio is a wool recycler with specialist knowledge in mechanical recycling methods.
In 2022 iinouiio became part of the Camira Textiles group. It now offers a service to fashion brands and textile manufacturers to help them convert what would ordinarily be deemed ‘unusable materials’ or waste, into new yarns and fabrics for re-use.
