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Sophia Bettiza: Most of our clothes [br]will never get recycled.

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99% will end up here,[br]dumped and burned in landfill.

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MW: Our Earth at this point is not capable[br]of absorbing the huge amount of clothing

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that is produced each year.

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SB: But what if all those wasted clothes

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could be saved and turned[br]into something else?

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I've come to a town in Italy called Prato.

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This place has mastered a method[br]to transform old scraps into new clothes.

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FT: This makes us feel proud.

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SB: What happens here is unique.

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There are hundreds of companies [br]in this small district

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and each specializes [br]in one specific aspect of the process,

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whether it's spinning, [br]weaving or designing.

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And today, incredibly,

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this town says it processes 15%[br]of all recycled clothes in the world.

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So this is your shirt.

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If it's too old for the charity shop,[br]it gets sent for recycling.

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Here, it's sorted by colour,[br]torn apart, washed,

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and then the new recycled material[br]is taken and transformed

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to make new clothes with minimum waste.

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That was very quick.

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Let's go through the process again.

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You donate clothes.

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They arrive here [br]from lots of different countries.

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All the garments [br]that can be sold second-hand

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are taken to this company nearby.

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Here, not only are they[br]separated by colour,

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but also by material.

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Think these used to be trousers!

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How many clothes do you recycle here?

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FT: About 25 tonnes every day.

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SB: The clothes are put in this.

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It's called a carbonizing machine -

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it eliminates impurities from the wool.

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Then, they go through this.

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It's like a giant washing machine.

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They're shredded, cleaned and dried.

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This is the final result -

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your old clothes have been transformed[br]into these fine, fluffy wool fibres.

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So at the end of the process,

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this is what the new recycled[br]materials look like.

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They're placed here[br]until a fashion brand buys them

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and uses them to make clothes.

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Some people might say[br]that you are using trash to make clothes.

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FB(Owner): This might have been[br]the case a few years ago.

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The word "rubbish" was an insult.

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But now, many brands... [br]they buy my products because of it -

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because they know that reusing resources [br]is going to save the planet.

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SB: Recycling wool is great[br]for the environment.

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Co2 emissions are more than halved

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compared to when clothes[br]are made from new material.

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MW(FashionRevolution): We have[br]an immediate impact on animal welfare,

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because you reduce the stress[br]that you have to put on the animals

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to get the wool,

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almost complete elimination of dyes

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because the way the wool is recycled[br]is an assortment by colour.

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SB: This is a method that's been[br]passed on from father to son.

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MW: The culture in Prato

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is the kind of culture that we need[br]across the entire fashion industry

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because it is based[br]on collaboration that are local,

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but are capable of showing how,

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if these things are taken[br]into a national or global scale,

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the entire industry could benefit.

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SB: The people of this town[br]were forced to recycle clothes

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because they couldn't afford the new ones.

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Now their methods, which have been[br]honed over the past hundred years,

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could offer a way forward[br]for a more sustainable fashion world.

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Subtitles by Livia Cefaloni[br]Review by Carol Wang