Research and development project

One Textile Direction

Name: Kolding School of Design
Price range: $

Participants from Kolding School of Design: Karen Marie Hasling
Cathryn Anneka Hall

Research and development project type: Research and development
Project period: Nov 2022 - Oct 2025
Project management: Cathryn Anneka Hall
LAB: Sustainability and Design
LAB theme: Organisational Life
Material Life
Collaboration partners: Aalborg Universitet
Dansk Teknologisk Institut
Lifestyle and Design Cluster
BESTSELLER
Ganni A/S
Kentaur
Aarhus Kommune
Køge Kommune
Copenhagen Airports
DT Solutions
BOFA
Affald Plus
Eldan
Textile Change

Background

One Textile Direction explored circular design, procurement, use, and reuse of textiles from private household, public, and private professional sectors with the ambition to make Denmark one of the front runners of the future circular textile industry.

The One Textile Direction

The One Textile Direction (OTD) project united 17 partners across the textile value chain—including municipalities, waste operators, technology providers, apparel companies, a design school, a university, a GTS institute, and an airport—to address barriers to textile circularity in Denmark.

The research at Kolding School of Design was conducted by Cathryn Anneka Hall. She worked together with selected partners to:

Map the textile manufacturers, sorting and recycling actors in Denmark
Perform a textile sorting study of discarded textile waste in Denmark
Conduct a tracking study of discarded recyclable textiles across the globe.

Mapping textile manufacturers, sorting and recycling actors in Denmark
Two studies were conducted. The first explored the textile manufacturers in Denmark and their sustainability measures/circular strategies being actioned and the role of digital technologies towards a circular economy. The second explored the sorting and recycling actors across Denmark and their roles with reusable and recyclable textiles.

Map of Danish Textile Manufactures 2024

Book Chapter:
Hall, C. A., Hasling, K. M., Hvass, K. K., & Kiørboe, N. (2025). Denmark. In M. Wynn, & T. Wiegand (eds.), Sustainability, the Circular Economy and Digitalisation in the European Textile and Clothing Industry: How Digital Technologies are Enabling the Circular Economy (pp. 161-199). Springer.

Map of Danish Recyclers & Sorters 2024/25

Sorting Study
Explored the new ‘textil affald’ collection streams from Danish households since the new EU legalisation for separate textile collection was implemented. The study explored what textiles citizens are discarding, what condition they are in and what composition they are made from. The results explored best-practice recommendations for textile waste collection, optimising efficiency, sustainability, and value recovery.

Tacking study
The study tracked the journey of post-consumer textile flows from Bornholm, generating new insights into actual waste destinations.