MONO-ISM by ei studio

Long description

The Mono-ism project is about reimagining a circular future of black polypropylene (PP) plastic waste, turning them into 100% mono-material garments. The process starts by collecting, cleaning and drying of PP materials. This phase is achieved by working with local restaurants since those in Taiwan mostly use PP packaging for takeaway utensils, so it would be reasonable to collaborate locally first to collect used PP waste. After that, like any collected waste, they have to be cleaned properly and thoroughly dried. The process is then followed by shredding the PP waste into smaller chips in order to be melted down and injected into product molds. For this project, the waste is transformed into buttons and knitting yarn for the final product: a black knitted cardigan. However, no rPP yarns are currently accessible across the globe hence the phase of rPP yarn is speculative. But as the literature indicates, it is possible to produce rPP yarns from PP waste with the aid of advanced machine technology and time effort. If rPP yarns are to be achieved, offcuts and waste produced during the manufacturing process could then return to the making of yarns, which keeps the cycle closed and infinite.

The piloting product is a mono-material (i.e., PP) cardigan designed in a fully fashioned knitting technique, a knitting process that generates minimum waste. As a project at the idea stage, we highlight the infinite recyclability of PP materials while exploring its extended roles within fashion.

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