Yarn manufactured from recycled clothing fibers and process for making same

Abstract

Yarn manufactured from recycled mixed clothing fibers and a process of making yarn manufactured from recycled mixed clothing fibers. Upcycled yarn has approximately 70%-95% of fiber from separated used clothes fibers, whereby separated used clothes fibers have cotton, polyester, nylon, silk, rayon, spandex, synthetic fibers, wool, hemp, carbon fibers, and/or linen. The upcycled yarn also has approximately 5%-30% other fibers that can be recycled fibers and/or virgin fibers, whereby the recycled fiber is recycled polyester from recycled plastic bottles and other sources, recycled cotton, recycled nylon from fishing nets and other sources, and the virgin fiber is nylon, spandex, virgin polyester, hemp, carbon fiber, and/or organic cotton.

Claims

1. A method of producing upcycled yarn comprising: cutting used clothes; performing a hopping process on said used clothes that has been cut; tearing said cut used clothes to produce used clothes fibers free from at least one of buttons, zippers, or accessories; mixing said used clothes fibers with additional fibers to produce a mixture of blended fibers free of bacteria, wherein the process does not include utilizing water, chemicals, dyes and pesticides; and spinning said mixture of blended fibers to produce said upcycled yarn.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said cutting step is performed on a cutter guillotine machine that receives said used clothes from a first conveyor.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the hopping process is performed on a hopper feeder machine that receives from a second conveyor said used clothes that has been cut.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the tearing step is performed on a tearing machine that comprises tearing cylinders tearing said used clothes to produce said used clothes fibers.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the used clothes fibers free from at least one of buttons, zippers, or accessories are obtained by performing a separating process that separates from the used clothes said at least one of buttons, zippers, or accessories during said tearing process.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the separating process is performed by at least one of vacuum systems, magnetism, or air pressure.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said used clothes fibers are free of plastic and metal.

8. The method for claim 1, wherein said used clothes fibers comprises at least one of cotton, polyester, nylon, silk, rayon, spandex, synthetic fibers, wool, hemp, carbon fibers, or linen.

9. The method for claim 1, wherein said used clothes fibers are mixed with said additional fibers in a predetermined percentage to obtain said upcycled yarn according to requirements of clothing or products made with said upcycled yarn.

10. The method for claim 1, wherein said upcycled yarn comprises 70%-95% of said used clothes fibers and 5%-30% of said additional fibers.

11. The method for claim 1, wherein said additional fibers comprises at least one of recycled fibers or virgin fibers.

12. The method for claim 11, wherein said recycled fibers comprises at least one of recycled polyester from recycled plastic bottles, recycled cotton, or recycled nylon from fishing nets.

13. The method for claim 11, wherein said virgin fibers comprises at least one of nylon, spandex, virgin polyester, hemp, carbon fiber, or organic cotton.

14. A method of producing upcycled yarn comprising: cutting used clothes and textile wastes; performing a hopping process on said cut used clothes and textile wastes; tearing said cut used clothes and textile wastes to produce used clothes fibers free from at least one of buttons, zippers, or accessories; mixing said used clothes fibers with additional fibers to produce a mixture of blended fibers free of bacteria, wherein the process does not include utilizing water, chemicals, dyes and pesticides; and spinning said mixture of blended fibers to produce said upcycled yarn.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) With the above and other related objects in view, the invention consists in the details of construction and combination of parts as will be more fully understood from the following description, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

(2) FIG. 1 represents recycling of textiles according to the present invention.

(3) FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

(4) Referring now to the drawings, the present invention is yarn manufactured from recycled mixed clothing fibers and process of making same, and is referred to as yarn manufactured from recycled clothing fibers 70, and process of making same 10.

(5) As seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, used clothes and textile wastes 20 are collected and processed to manufacture yarn from recycled clothing fibers, also defined as upcycled yarn 70, that is used to manufacture new clothing and products 80.

(6) In a preferred embodiment, process 10 to obtain upcycled yarn 70 comprises the following steps:

(7) A) collecting used clothes and textile wastes 20 that may comprise buttons and/or zippers;

(8) B) transporting used clothes and textile wastes 20 to factory 30;

(9) C) introducing used clothes and textile wastes 20 to cutter guillotine machine 32 for a cutting process to produce cut used clothes and textile wastes 20;

(10) D) introducing cut used clothes and textile wastes 20 to hopper feeder machine 34 for a hopping process;

(11) E) introducing cut used clothes and textile wastes 20 to tearing machine 36 for a tearing process;

(12) F) tearing cut used clothes and textile wastes 20 to produce used clothes fibers 40 while separating the buttons and/or zippers from used clothes fibers 40 to produce separated used clothes fibers 40′;

(13) G) collecting separated used clothes fibers 40′;

(14) H) mixing separated used clothes fibers 40′ with other fibers 50 in blending bin machine 38;

(15) I) spinning separated used clothes fibers 40′ with other fibers 50 in spinning machine 60 to produce upcycled yarn 70;

(16) J) collecting upcycled yarn 70; and

(17) K) making new clothing and products 80 from upcycled yarn 70.

(18) For Step A) collecting used clothes and textile wastes 20 that may comprise buttons and/or zippers, used clothes and textile wastes 20 are collected. Used clothes and textile wastes 20 may be in any condition and may have buttons, zippers, and/or any accessories. Making this a zero waste process.

(19) For Step B) transporting used clothes and textile wastes 20 to factory 30, used clothes and textile wastes 20 are transported to factory 30, preferably in bulk.

(20) For Step C) introducing used clothes and textile wastes 20 to cutter guillotine machine 32 for a cutting process to produce cut used clothes and textile wastes 20, a robot feeder introduces used clothes and textile wastes 20 with buttons and/or zippers on a first conveyor. Then, used clothes and textile wastes 20 are transported and introduced to cutter guillotine machine 32 to be cut in the cutting process.

(21) For Step D) introducing cut used clothes and textile wastes 20 to hopper feeder machine 34 for a hopping process, cut used clothes and textile wastes 20 are transported on a second conveyor to hopper feeder machine 34.

(22) For Step E) introducing cut used clothes and textile wastes 20 to tearing machine 36 for a tearing process, top of the line tearing equipment and machine technology specialized in post-consumer (used clothing) and post-industrial (fabric scraps) textile waste is utilized. It is noted that tearing machine 36 operates at sufficiently hot temperatures to kill bacteria of cut used clothes and textile wastes 20.

(23) For Step F) tearing cut used clothes and textile wastes 20 to produce used clothes fibers 40 while separating the buttons and/or zippers from used clothes fibers 40 to produce separated used clothes fibers 40′, tearing machine 36 comprises tearing cylinders to tear the used clothes and textile wastes 20 to produce used clothes fibers 40. While the tearing process is occurring a separating process occurs to separate the buttons and/or zippers. The separating process may comprise machinery or equipment including, but not limited to, vacuum systems, magnetism, and/or air pressure.

(24) For Step G) collecting separated used clothes fibers 40′, it is noted that used clothes fibers 40′ will be free of buttons, zippers, and plastic and metal matter.

(25) For Step H) mixing separated used clothes fibers 40′ with other fibers 50 in blending bin machine 38, separated used clothes fibers 40′ are mixed with other fibers 50, which can be selected from recycled fibers 52 or virgin fibers 54.

(26) For Step I) spinning separated used clothes fibers 40′ with other fibers 50 in spinning machine 60 to produce upcycled yarn 70, spinning machine 60 comprises components to spin separated used clothes fibers 40′ with other fibers 50 to produce upcycled yarn 70.

(27) For Step J) collecting upcycled yarn 70, upcycled yarn 70 is collected from spinning machine 60.

(28) For Step K) making new clothing and products 80 from upcycled yarn 70, new clothing and products 80 are manufactured. New clothing and products 80 can be any textile product including clothing, clothing accessories, or any product made of a textile material.

(29) A blend or percentage of used clothes fibers 40′ and other fibers 50 may vary depending on the requirements for new clothing and products 80.

(30) In a preferred embodiment, upcycled yarn 70 comprises:

(31) approximately 70%-95% fiber from separated used clothes fibers 40′, whereby separated used clothes fibers 40′ comprises cotton, polyester, nylon, silk, rayon, spandex, synthetic fibers, wool, hemp, carbon fibers, and/or linen; and

(32) approximately 5%-30% other fibers 50 that can be selected from recycled fibers 52 and/or virgin fibers 54, whereby recycled fiber 52 is recycled polyester from recycled plastic bottles and other sources, recycled cotton, recycled nylon from fishing nets and other sources, and virgin fiber 54 comprises nylon, spandex, virgin polyester, hemp, carbon fiber, and/or organic cotton.

(33) A first alternate embodiment, upcycled yarn 70 comprises:

(34) approximately 70%-75% fiber from separated used clothes fibers 40′, whereby separated used clothes fibers 40′ comprises cotton, polyester, nylon, silk, rayon, spandex, synthetic fibers, wool, hemp, carbon fibers, and/or linen; and

(35) approximately 25%-30% recycled polyester from recycled plastic bottles.

(36) A second alternate embodiment, upcycled yarn 70 comprises:

(37) approximately 85%-95% fiber from separated used clothes fibers 40′, whereby separated used clothes fibers 40′ comprises cotton, polyester, nylon, silk, rayon, spandex, synthetic fibers, wool, hemp, carbon fibers, and/or linen;

(38) approximately 4%-9% nylon; and

(39) approximately 1%-6% spandex.

(40) A third alternate embodiment, upcycled yarn 70 comprises:

(41) approximately 70%-80% fiber from separated used clothes fibers 40′, whereby separated used clothes fibers 40′ comprises cotton, polyester, nylon, silk, rayon, spandex, synthetic fibers, wool, hemp, carbon fibers, and/or linen; and

(42) approximately 20%-30% virgin Polyester.

(43) More specifically, in a preferred embodiment, upcycled yarn 70 comprises:

(44) approximately 70% fiber from separated used clothes fibers 40′, whereby separated used clothes fibers 40′ comprises cotton, polyester, nylon, silk, rayon, spandex, synthetic fibers, wool, hemp, carbon fibers, and/or linen; and

(45) approximately 30% recycled polyester from recycled plastic bottles.

(46) The second alternate embodiment, upcycled yarn 70 comprises:

(47) approximately 95% fiber from separated used clothes fibers 40′, whereby separated used clothes fibers 40′ comprises cotton, polyester, nylon, silk, rayon, spandex, synthetic fibers, wool, hemp, carbon fibers, and/or linen;

(48) approximately 4% nylon; and

(49) approximately 1% spandex.

(50) The third alternate embodiment, upcycled yarn 70 comprises:

(51) approximately 70% fiber from separated used clothes fibers 40′, whereby separated used clothes fibers 40′ comprises cotton, polyester, nylon, silk, rayon, spandex, synthetic fibers, wool, hemp, carbon fibers, and/or linen; and

(52) approximately 30% virgin Polyester.

(53) All products made according to the process 10 are high quality. By shredding all kinds of used clothes and textile wastes 20 without any sorting, a unique combination of fibers is obtained, enabling to manufacture premium quality upcycled yarn 70.

(54) Process 10 uses the best technologies available for recycling discarded garments with no harsh chemicals or water involved.

(55) Process 10 for manufacturing upcycled yarn 70 from used clothes and textile waste 20 ensures a minimal environmental impact from a raw material level. The positive environmental impact of process 10 is massive. Process 10 uses no water, chemicals, dyes or pesticides. The manufacture of upcycled yarn 70 avoids pollution, saving millions of gallons of water for new fiber generation and keeping millions of gallons of water clean from toxic dyes and chemical treatments. Process 10 also skips cotton farming and not only saves water, but avoids the use of pesticides that damages the environment and farmers alike. The recycled fabrics from upcycled yarn 70 are not treated with dyes or other toxic treating materials like formaldehyde, heavy metals and salts. In addition, process 10 diverts millions of pounds of textile waste from ending up in landfills.

(56) The foregoing description conveys the best understanding of the objectives and advantages of the present invention. Different embodiments may be made of the inventive concept of this invention. It is to be understood that all matter disclosed herein is to be interpreted merely as illustrative, and not in a limiting sense.