Certified recycled fibres are now found across blank apparel, from t-shirts and sweatshirts to outerwear, performance wear and bags. But what does ‘recycled’ really mean — and how can you evaluate the claims behind a product?
Depending on the fibre, these can include plastic bottles, industrial waste, old fishing nets, discarded textiles or cutting scraps. After collection, sorting and processing, the recovered material is transformed into new fibres and yarns.
Certification helps make that journey traceable.
The Recycled Claim Standard (RCS) and Global Recycled Standard (GRS), developed by Textile Exchange, both provide third-party verification of recycled materials and chain of custody. This helps confirm that the claimed recycled content has been tracked through the supply chain. GRS goes further, adding requirements covering social and environmental practices and chemical use during processing.
Recycled polyester is widely used in printwear, including T-shirts, sweatshirts, fleece, jackets and bags. It can be made from post-consumer PET bottles or production waste and is valued for its durability, colour retention and versatility.
Recycled nylon, commonly sourced from industrial waste and items such as discarded fishing nets, produces smooth, strong yarns particularly suited to outerwear, bags and performance apparel.
Recycled cotton can give cutting waste and post-consumer textiles another use. Because recycling shortens the cotton fibres, it is often blended with recycled polyester or other cotton to improve strength, softness and consistency.
Fibre content and fabric construction still matter when choosing a decoration technique. Screen printing, DTG, DTF, sublimation, heat transfer and embroidery can all work successfully on certified recycled apparel, but suitability depends on the individual garment and blend. Always check the product and decoration guidance before production.
Certification does not automatically make every product identical in quality or impact. What it provides is something increasingly valuable: independent verification behind the recycled content claim.
At Falk&Ross you can discover certified recycled apparel, outerwear and accessories from across our curated multibrand collection.