Closing the loop Project A research project by the designer Francesca Pievani about the upgrade of waste material for sustainable innovation in the fashion sector

Closing the Loop is a research project created by the Italian designer Francesca Pievani, former student of the School of Design of Politecnico di Milano [1] and founder of the brand Fili Pari [3]. The project arose from the desire to enhance and optimize the resources of the territory of Bergamo through the implementation of a cross-border synergy between different industrial districts (mechanical and textile) of the city of Bergamo area. The purpose of the project is to incorporate waste materials from the mechanical district into the textile industry by regenerating them, stretching the life cycle of the product waste. The methodology that led Francesca Pievani into the development of Closing the Loop has been articulated into 3 steps: analysis, research and project. The analysis, both structured from the statistical-quantitative and the sensitive-qualitative point of view, is based entirely on the Bergamo territory and first examines objective and measurable data, and then sensitive and subjective data relating to habits, customs, culture and the lifestyle of the general population. Thanks to this analysis, it was possible to identify very specific features of the territory of Bergamo, the work culture and Rubber Valley, an industrial district located in the area of Basso Sebino, the world leader in the production of rubber and PTFE (the commonly called Teflon). The next step was to research and deepen the PTFE and its life cycle, assuming a new employment. Here, the textile industry and the mechanical sector join together in the third step thanks to Closing the Loop: a project to regenerate PTFE waste and to thrive in the textile sector. In this case it is the process to be the protagonist, rather than the product. The project consists of five different actors: Rubber Valley district, a supposed consortium that manages all the process, a waste regeneration company, a company producing PTFE yarns and finally the textile district of the Seriana Valley. At an experimental stage developed in 2014, the consortium collected and dispatched the scraps to a company that regenerated them, obtaining material from identical properties to the original material. Subsequently, the new material was then organized by the consortium and shipped to another company able to extrude a continuous yarn that through the consortium will be distributed to Seriana Valley District. It was therefore possible to create a 100% PTFE fabric, with which a rhinestone cardigan was created. The yarn used has the same performance as a PTFE block such as heat resistance, solvent resistance, chemical inertia, excellent dielectric characteristics and excellent aging resistance. It was then blended with other yarns such as cashmere, silver wire, lurex, linen and wool to test the potency of PTFE yarn mixed with other yarns and implement the material's performance. The territory therefore becomes not only a theater but also an actor of a cross-process that calls into question different protagonists (each with a precise and structured role) and contributes to redefining the role of PTFE, which is usually used as a material for the mechanical sector with a new aesthetic and functional purpose.