The rubbish T-shirt

Main image: processing cotton at the Remill factory

Every year, millions of T-shirts and Black Friday impulse buys end up in landfill – despite being made from cotton that could be reused.

Globally, only 1% of clothing is recycled back into new clothing, leaving the vast majority to become waste.

With an estimated 80% of Black Friday purchases ultimately discarded, UK circular clothing brand Rapanui is turning that waste into a new collection made from recovered cotton fibre.

Closing the loop

Founded in 2009 by brothers Mart and Rob Drake-Knight – from a shed on the Isle of Wight and with just £200 – Rapanui has grown into the UK’s leading circular brand.

The brothers went on to develop the circular manufacturing model Teemill, a platform now used by thousands of brands to create and sell sustainable clothing without holding stock or producing excess waste.

To close the loop, the brothers also created Remill, an open take-back programme that accepts 100% cotton clothing from any brand (excluding denim and underwear).

Returned items are recovered, shredded and respun into new recycled products made from 50% post-consumer recycled cotton and 50% organic cotton. 

In 2025 alone, the programme recovered over 14,000 kg of cotton, bringing the total to more than 102,000 kg since launch — equivalent to the weight of 887 adult giant pandas.