El Corte Inglés and To Be Green, a spin-off from the University of Minho, have joined forces inan unprecedented partnership, to produce 300 new articles using recycled textile.
For many, El Corte Inglés is synonymous with fashion. After all, we’re talking about one of the most well-known retail companies on the Iberian Peninsula. Now, with the aim of giving customers the opportunity to get closer to the circular economy concept, the company has launched a project that gives used clothes a new life.
Customers can now leave their clothes and other textiles in a dedicated container, which can be found in the Resíduo 0 space, on the -1 floor of the Lisbon department store, and on the -2 floor of the Vila Nova de Gaia store. These garments are then delivered to To Be Green, which coordinates the whole process with the national textile industry. Initially, all the components that can’t be recycled, such as buttons and zippers, have to be eliminated. Then we start destroying the textile, which generates the base that will be used to produce new yarn. Only then do we start producing the new textile.
As part of the project, a collaboration agreement was signed between El Corte Inglés and the University of Minho to hold an Eco-design competition, aimed at final year students on the Fashion Design and Marketing course, to produce a proposal/mock-up of aprons that will be produced from recycled textiles and used in the future by El Corte Inglés catering teams.
The aim of this pilot project is to produce 300 aprons and 300 blankets from 500 kg of textiles collected from customers at the Lisbon and Vila Nova de Gaia stores, which will be donated to social partners. Several companies from the Portuguese Textile and Clothing Sector (STV) are taking part in this project, as well as CITEVE, as a technological and research center for analyzing the quality of recycled material.
For Vasco Marques Pinto, Head of Sustainability at El Corte Inglés Portugal, this project confirms El Corte Inglés’ commitment to sustainability and its intention to continually move towards best practices. “In 2022 and 2023 we invested in circular economy projects that promote the fight against food waste, and internally there was the intention to carry out a new project aimed at textiles. It was in this context that, after a few months of analysis and research, we decided to go ahead with this project, which offers our customers the opportunity to give the best use to textiles that they have in their homes and that they don’t use. This is our proposal and with it we are committed to giving a new lease of life to the textiles entrusted to us,” he says.
This is not the first time that El Corte Inglés has invested in circular economy projects. In 2022 it launched “É uma Cerveja” (it’s a beer), a craft beer made from leftover bread from El Corte Inglés bakeries, which is on sale in El Corte Inglés supermarkets and in the restaurants of the CRESCER Association, which is dedicated to employing homeless people. Part of the proceeds will go to the association. In 2023, El Corte Inglés launched “É um sorvete” (it’s an ice cream) in partnership with the Nannarella ice cream shop, which created an ice cream made from ripe and “less attractive” fruit from El Corte Inglés Supermarkets. This product is also on sale at El Corte Inglés and Nannarella and part of the proceeds will go to the CRESCER Association.
Marta Cerqueira is from Minho and a vegetarian. Luckily, she lives in Lisbon, where there is more tofu than sarrabulho. She has been a journalist for over 15 years, the last of which writing about food and sustainability. Now, out of the newsroom, she continues to write whenever she can, be it in magazines, journals, post its, or on her Instagram page, which she uses to share a life divided between being a mom-person-foodie-traveler. Still, she created Peggada so she could write about what doesn't fit in a magazine, journal, post it or Instagram: a better world.
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