At Looptworks, our long-term goal is to work towards closed-loop (Loopt) solutions in manufacturing, hence our name: "looped works.” With your support, we’ve upcycled thousands of pounds of textile waste over the past decade into limited edition products creating value from materials that were headed to the landfill or incinerator.

We’ve demonstrated it’s possible to create value out of existing textile waste as well as manufacture waste free products. Despite this success, the amount of global textile waste continues growing every year.

We founded the Loopt Foundation to scale our expertise into an industry revolution eliminating pre-consumer waste in global textile manufacturing through partnership, innovation, certification, and education.

“The Loopt Foundation will focus on sharing and building our knowledge with the industry, academia, and the next generation of industry professionals” said Scott Hamlin, Founder and CEO, Looptworks,” proactively take and shape this expertise into a certification process that guides and verifies brand efforts to close the loop, and provide an entry point to maximize the value of Looptworks brand partners donated excess materials including pre-consumer waste.”

Why pre-consumer waste? Because the impact is immense yet almost invisible to consumers. It’s also a critical component of closed-loop manufacturing.

Despite the fact that all humans wear clothes, most of us are completely unaware of the associated impacts. As the world’s third largest polluting industry (behind energy and agriculture), textile production has a long history of environmental, social, and economic injustice primarily impacting communities of color.

If pre-consumer waste were included with your clothing, up to a third of your closet would be filled with textile waste. To get an idea of how much this is:

• Grab a stack of jeans or sweaters from your closet or bureau and place them on your bathroom scale.
• Now multiply the weight of the stack by .20 to get an average estimate of the pre-consumer textile waste that was associated with its production.
• For example, 10 pounds of jeans equals 2 pounds of pre-consumer waste (10 X .20 = 2).  The same equation works in Kilograms.

Incredibly, up to 90% of waste in the apparel industry occurs during production. This includes 10 - 30 percent of all input materials. Considering that the global apparel industry alone produces 400 billion square meters of fabric annually, this is the equivalent of 40 - 120 billion square meters of waste. Eliminating this pre-consumer waste directly improves the air and water quality for millions of people living in manufacturing communities.

• Textile production makes up 10% of humanity’s carbon emissions
• In low income countries, where manufacturing is concentrated, air pollution is the leading risk factor for death
• 23kg of greenhouse gasses are generated for each kg of fabric produced
• 20% of industrial water pollution comes from textile treatment and dying
• In developing countries, 70% of industrial waste is dumped untreated into waters.

“Positively addressing these environmental and social justice issues requires revolutionizing this industry,” said Scott Welch, Executive Director, Loopt Foundation. “Our stakeholders in this revolution range from corporate CEO’s to factory workers, from consumers in the US to children in Bangladesh. The Loopt Foundation is uniquely qualified to be the catalyst in this effort.”

• Experience & Success – Along with Looptworks, The Foundation has developed the systems, processes and structures to reach the zero-waste goal. We understand the opportunities, recognize the hurdles and know the where, what and the who to make the vision a reality.
• Global Standards – We are partnering with regulatory agencies around the world to develop a material and facility level zero waste certification process in coordination with our technical advisory committee and in association with international regulations and standards.
• Material/Manufacturing Innovation – Founded and supported by Looptworks we know how to create value out of waste. Led by textile veterans with over a century of experience, we know how to scale these solutions to revolutionize the industry.
• Shared Information – We are dedicated to transparency both within our operations and our efforts to develop and actively share the knowledge, tools and processes to create and maintain zero waste programs.
• Consumer Demand – Consumers are the most powerful force in the textile industry. We are building consumer awareness of pre-consumer waste, providing resources and tools so consumers can make informed choices, connecting them to their favorite brands so they can share this message, and building a movement that will revolutionize the textile industry.

We can’t do this without you. We all wear clothes and share the responsibility to reduce our impact on the world. Consumer demand and awareness will drive the coordination, innovation, certification, and education necessary to eliminate pre-consumer waste in global textile manufacturing.

Your support of The Loopt Foundation ensures an independent and objective voice in this movement, your voice. We work with the brands and manufacturers but are not owned by them. The foundation is founded and established through grassroots consumer support and sustained through providing direct value to stakeholders through upcycling solutions, certification, and educational resources.

While we will continue to ask for your advocacy and support, we will not continue to ask for your money. Your initial investment demonstrates to the industry that you care and builds the critical mass necessary for change. The world is facing numerous global challenges. We have the solution for this one. Now is the time to make it happen.