Fully recycled little knitted cotton dress.

A little yellow dress produced by two Swedish organizations, the Royal Institute of Technology and GreenHouse Labs, has made sustainability history. Unveiled at the prestigious Almedalen Week, a political event held on the Island of Gotland, Sweden, the dress is made completely of recycled cotton fibers.

According to Sportswear International which also reviewed the dress, the success of this manufacturing process means that textile fibers can be recycled fully, similar to paper, and that the material of the future could be recycled cotton or a blend of recycled cotton with other recycled fibers (i.e. plastics such as what Patagonia uses in some apparel).

While the producers of the little knitted yellow dress are not necessarily known for creating fashion, it goes to show the growing interconnection between technology, sustainability, and fashion as more manufacturing processes are being developed.

Stay tuned for Label Networks’ 3rd Annual Sustainability and the State of the Future Youth Culture Study 2014 being released August 7, 2014.