2023-11-06 14:43:36
There is too much fabric in the world. Not only the clothes we wear, and finally throw away; also that of the garments that remain unsold. And finally, a type that we almost never notice: the waste that generates its own clothing industry and that end in the dump, 92 million tons per year according to calculations by the Danish NGO Global Fashion Agenda. Well then; all that waste was going around in my head Monica Rodrguez at the end of the first decade of the 2000s. The fashion sector was no stranger to this marketing professional. By then she had already worked in the e-commerce area of Bershka and founded his own clothing brand, Dreamers not Allowed, in 2013. But I wanted to go further.
So in 2021, together with Martha Iglesias y Gonzalo Senzfund Recovo. The company was born with the stated purpose of combating textile waste and transforming it into other resources through connections, and thus being able to extend the useful life of the materials as much as possible before recycling them, as well as preserving resources. Okay, but how do you do that? Recovo is basically a platform that helps companies give salida to their industrial surplus of weaving, spinning and production materials. Also, explains Mónica Rodríguez, we facilitate the reuse of materials and we achieve that one square meter of fabric reduces 82% of the resources used compared to the production of a virgin material. On their digital platform, companies buy and sell surplus materials thanks to the digital catalog from Recovo; They connect with each other to recycle garments, and finally, they sell recycled and recyclable materials.
How has the fashion industry received you? From the first moment we had a very good reception from an industry that is increasingly aware of his responsibility and is looking for sustainable and responsible solutions to reduce its environmental footprint. Our role has been to facilitate these companies’ transition towards a more circular model, in addition to offering them the opportunity to reuse internally or monetize their stocks in a new digital channel. What materials do you recycle or recover? Rolls of fabric, yarns, trimmings and garments Can they be used for any type of clothing? Yes, of course, for anyone. From ‘activewear’ to party dresses. Many brands have included us in their catwalk collections. We have been to Copenhagen Fashion Week, London, Madrid and Barcelona. Where is the company at right now? Right now we have just raised a round [de financiacin] of one million to continue with our international expansion. We seek to incorporate more brands and big players in the sector to join the initiative to have a significant impact at scale. We are also developing new functionalities in our software and we want to continue generating positive impact. At the moment we have 18 million liters of water saved and more than 1.7 million meters of fabric recovered and sections of landfills. We want to lead the circularity movement. The very essence of Recovo… requires you to be constantly recycling yourselves? Exactly! We don’t stop coming up with improvements. From processes to future business verticals. There are countless things that can be done to facilitate circularity in the fashion sector. And that’s the most fun thing, that there is a lot of room for creativity.#Mónica #Rodríguez #CEO #Recovo #company #saves #discarded #fabrics #removed #million #square #meters #fabric #landfills