Fristads shines a spotlight on circular products celebrating recycling week with an inside look at sustainable manufacturing

In honour of Recycling Week, which runs from 14th-21st October 2024 Fristads, the leading sustainable workwear manufacturer, is encouraging businesses to embrace making more environmentally conscious choices in their workwear purchases and to reject the throwaway culture.

The theme for this year’s Recycling Week is "Rescue Me. Recycle". The week will focus on encouraging people to recycle items that are often thrown away but could be recycled instead. Fristads is dedicated to ensuring their garments are built for longevity and are not part of the throwaway culture.

Fristads has been a pioneer in designing and producing innovative sustainable solutions in the workwear industry since it was founded in Sweden in 1925.

Since launching the world’s first environmentally declared clothing collection in 2019, Fristads has made significant strides in creating a circular closed-loop system within the workwear sector.

Its forward-thinking ‘Fristads Green’ collection showcases garments made from discarded workwear, demonstrating its dedication to reducing carbon emissions through sustainable manufacturing practices.

Anne Nilsson, director of marketing and sustainability at Fristads explains what sustainable manufacturing means.

She said: “Sustainable manufacturing covers the whole spectra, from good working conditions throughout the supply chain, to making sure we have real environmental data on every aspect of the manufacturing process.”

“We want to make sure that every product that we develop and manufacture will be used as long as possible, and properly recycled in the end, closing the gap on the throw away culture in workwear garments.”

Fristads is committed to comprehensive sustainability, which includes encouraging the following initiatives with its products:

• Repairing: Reviving damaged workwear instead of discarding it.
• Reusing: Providing second chances for their products.
• Recycling: Transforming garments into other products, from furniture padding to construction materials.
• Reducing: Minimising environmental impact through EPD (Environmental Product Declaration) insights.
• Rethinking: Continuously innovating to close the loop in the production process.
• Reforming: Utilising sustainable alternatives like recycled polyester and plant-based materials.

These efforts are part of Fristads' React initiative, which outlines its strategy for tackling climate change and leading the way in sustainability within the workwear industry so that workwear can be re-loved, rather than replaced.