Abstract:
Garments rejected during manufacture are
an under-examined stream of textile waste. They carry
the full environmental burden of fibre production,
dyeing, knitting and finishing, but unlike post-consumer
clothing they are discarded before delivering any service.
Elastane-containing garments are particularly
problematic, because elastane obstructs both mechanical
and chemical recycling of blended textiles. This study
asks whether elastane damage in knitted tights can be
reduced at source by altering the geometry of the yarn
path between creel and feeder. Quality-assurance records
at a Sri Lankan hosiery manufacturer attributed 25% of
elastane damage to the feeding system and, within that
group, 44% to yarn path behaviour. Three feeding angles,
38.7°, 45.0° and 50.2°, were derived from a survey of 60
production machines and trialled with all other variables
held constant. Screening over 100 pairs per angle gave
defect rates of 1.0% at 45.0°, 1.5% at 38.7° and 5.0% at
50.2°. In seven days of continuous production, 45.0°
recorded 6 defects in 720 pairs (0.83%) against 17 in 745
pairs (2.28%) at 38.7°, a statistically significant difference
(χ2 = 4.08, df = 1, p = 0.043). Applied to the 351,042 pairs
produced in 2025, of which 3,962 were lost to elastane
damage, the trial rate corresponds to approximately
1,040 finished garments not discarded each year. The
intervention requires repositioning a single yarn guide
and no capital investment, indicating that process
geometry is an accessible, under-used lever for waste
prevention in apparel manufacturing.
