Densile: an affordable alternative to PVC-coated polyester tensile membrane fabric

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Cai Elise Cathlene C

De La Salle – College of Saint Benilde, Philippines

: Expert Opin Environ Biol

Abstract

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One of the front liners of the battle against waste is the fashion industry. 350,000 tons of clothing in the UK every year is being landfilled while 95% of the landfilled textiles could still be recycled. The Philippines is one of the biggest clothing sorting centers of used and unwanted clothes from other country, thus making it one of the largest markets for clothing but proper implementation of waste management disposal is what the country lacks. One of the most commonly used items of clothing is denim, and according to a study on Denim Jeans Industry’s Statistics, the total number of jeans sold worldwide annually is 1,240,000,000. Asia already takes up 31% in the denim purchasing market. Imagine how much denim is created, consumed, and then left burning in the incinerators? With the alarming volume of waste from the fashion industry, and repetitive recycling habits that contribute only a few to the environment, is there actually a way to still lessen this by a means of a cost-effective building material that could also give way to the reawakening of the public’s knowledge about the use of textile in architecture? This is where Densile comes in. Denim is also known for its durability, but sadly it is used more for fast fashion, thus creating more waste. There are efforts to recycle, but people who try to recycle denim do not really understand fully what sets it apart from other fabrics. That is why it was fitting to take advantage of denim’s properties by upcycling it into a cheaper alternative to PVC-coated tensile membrane fabric which costs 9000- 15000 per square meter. With your usual denim waste, the possibilities are definitely endless, and this would be of great help to denim factories’ waste disposal too.

Biography

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E-mail: chuaelisecathlene@gmail.com