Charles Oyamo passes easily as a smooth talker; he sells out his idea in an organized manner with every detail broken down enabling his target to easily understand complex topics in the fashion industry.
Our zoom discussion centers on the fashion industry where together with his three colleagues, they are planning a disruption in the supply chain of raw materials. Theirs is a technology that extracts fiber from agro-waste to produce environment friendly materials for making designer clothes and shoes.
In his mission, he takes issue with the current sources of raw materials for the textile industry, which mostly contribute to the environment degradation.
“We do this because the textile industry is consuming over 300 million barrels of oil annually, contributing to 70 per cent of all clothing production,” he notes adding that this is responsible for 35 per cent of microplastic, 20 per cent of industrial water pollution and approximately 10 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions.
“These materials take up to 200 years to break down in landfills, exacerbating the climate crisis and microplastic pollution,” he says.
Our project started just as an idea; four university students pained by the polluting nature of the fashion industry. The four are now done with the prototyping stage where they were able to process 150 Kgs of pineapple leaves, which amounted to 2 square metres of fabric.
Having proven that it works, the four are now heading to transform the pilot programme at an industrial scale by taking in more waste, of different types.
“Over the coming months, we are looking at having a dress, a pair of shoes, a shirt and a jacket made from our material,” Mr. Oyamo says.
HOW THE INNOVATION WORKS
In the process of coming up with the fibre, Rethread Africa collects agricultural waste from farms and in some cases sugarcane bagasse processing plants. The waste includes but is not limited to pineapple leaves, corn husks, and sugarcane bagasse.
Next, it uses a proprietary process to break down the waste into its constituent fibres. The fibres are then spun into yarn, which is then woven into the material.
The whole process uses a closed-loop production system ensuring that the company significantly reduce the number of resources with up to 99 less water use and slashing emissions by close to 80 per cent.
“We believe that agro-waste has the potential to revolutionize the textile industry. The technology can help reduce reliance on petroleum-based synthetics and create a more sustainable future.”
Recently, Rethread Africa won Sh29 million Global Change Award (GCA). The Global Change Award also called The Nobel Prize of Fashion, launched as the first innovation of its kind in 2015. Since then, it has received more than 20,000 entries and awarded over 30 disruptive innovations with a combined grant of 6 million Euros.
Rethread Africa has gained global grip with companies such as Hugo Boss, H&M, Savanna Sand, Kikoromeo among others showing interest in working with the company.
Mr. Oyamo who is the Chief Executive Officer Rethread Africa says that by turning agro-waste into bio-based synthetics, he has developed an innovative material that uses far fewer resources while upholding the same qualities as petroleum-based synthetics. The materials sourced from smallholder farmers can naturally decompose at their end of life.
Rethread targets farmers in the counties of Homa-Bay, Kilifi and Kiambu with a plan to extend the offer to other farmers across the country. “With our target of designers from the European Union market, West Africa and other parts of the world, we are seeing a situation of working with farmers from across the country.”
