Dubai’s textile industry is adopting innovative technology solutions. A manufacturing plant is being set up to make pellets from old clothes that are broken down into raw material. The plant will break down old clothes with polyester and cotton fiber through a recycling process to create PET pellets. These pellets are then used to manufacture new fabric that is then put back into the supply chain for a variety of uses including the fashion industry. The technology is already being used by high-end retailers such as H&M for whom a Japanese company is making clothing by dissolving polyester fiber from used clothing, purifying it and then turning it into a polyester resin that can be used again as raw material for polyester. Innovative technologies can be the answer to a greener footprint within the hydrocarbon dependent textile industry. The commercial benefits of the manufacturing process will save the textile industry millions of dollars every year as it weans its dependence away from the hydrocarbon industry.

In the UAE, textile industry is the country’s largest trading sector after oil. UAE’s textile exports cover more than 90 countries in Africa, the Middle East, South Asia and Europe.