A while back I had heard that there was a new process of making fabric from spent coffee grinds. The fabric was purportedly mixed with recycled PET to make “coffee polyester”. I was so excited by this idea (being a coffee addict lover myself), that I’ve been on the lookout for coffee clothing ever since.
At the Go Green Expo, I finally found coffee nirvana. I saw shirts made from 100% coffee polyester that honestly didn’t feel all that good, but were adorably cute with coffee beans printed on them, and nice fashion pieces that were 60% coffee polyester, 40% tencel that actually looked and felt good. The prices were reasonable and I was all set to go!
I sat down with the manufacturer to talk process. Exactly how is coffee polyester created (and why do the t-shirts feel like 1970’s polyester suits)? It turns out that recycled PET is combined with… here it comes… 2% coffee grinds and then respun into yarn. So “coffee polyester” is actually 98% polyester with a sprinkle of coffee. I was looking for a double espresso and instead got a Grande latte with 1/2 shot. So those nice 60% coffee polyester, 40% tencel shirts actually contained just 1.2% coffee.
The process is fairly clean and dyed with low-impact dyes. Since all the polyester is recycled it’s not a bad choice environmentally. But would anyone actually want one? What’s your opinion? Is a little coffee better than no coffee? Please leave a comment or answer our poll on the top right sidebar to share your opinion.
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