Textile Recycling Program

We believe that all businesses that produce an item should be responsible for that item through all phases of its life.

We aim to be 100% responsible and accountable for what we produce for its entire life cycle — from conception, production, wear and then end of life. Total textile waste saved from landfill: over 4 tonnes.

Our goal is to ensure no Kuwaii textile products (including wastage from the production process nor the garment themselves) ever hit landfill.

On average, Australians purchase 27kg of new textiles each year and then discard 23kg into landfill­—leading to 501,000 tonnes of materials dumped into landfill annually. This current linear ‘take, make and dispose’ system encourages overconsumption and puts a huge strain on our planet. At this accelerated pace, Australians are on track to produce enough textile waste to cover the whole surface of the country by 2030.

It’s time to make a serious change, and Kuwaii is committed to doing our bit.

Our new production model (launched in 2020) is a return to a super-small, limited edition production run, where deadstock fabrics and our production remnant fabrics are built into our designs.

Our textile recycling program has seen over 4 tonnes of textile waste diverted from landfill and turned into new consumer products.

What is textile recycling?

Commercial textile recycling involves breaking down fabrics into a form that can be spun back into new yarn or material.

We gather the textile offcuts and waste from our production processes within our studio and at our clothing makers.

We sort them by hand, remove any large pieces, and turn them into smaller accessories such as scrunchies, eye masks, face masks or hats.

We donate some fabric to craft groups, community groups, schools and kindergartens. Anything too small to be given another life is sent to Textile Recyclers Australia, where it’s recycled into new fibres or other products like mattresses!


We’re always looking for creative ways to upcycle our waste. We continue to work with local artists and makers to turn our waste into useful, beautiful and practical items, such as weaver Maryanne Moodie’s woven art in 2019, Imakestagram collaboration in 2023, furniture upholstery, and new valuable items for our customers to love and cherish.


The cost of this program is built into the cost of our pieces, and we’re determined to prevent every scrap of our textile waste from hitting landfill.