Ep 33. Part 3 I Clean Run: Detoxing the Running Jacket I Care, Repair and Recycle with Charlotte Krist, Shay Sethi and Wajahat Hussain
No Ordinary Cloth: Textile innovations in future materials, manufacturing and sustainabilityShow Notes
We're used to thinking about sustainability at the point of purchase: what fibres a garment is made from, whether it's certified or recycled. But the truth is, what we do with a garment after we buy it – how we wash it, whether we repair it, and what happens when it's finally worn out – is just as important as what it's made of.
In this final episode of Clean Run, host Mili Tharakan takes our now‑familiar running jacket into the rest of its life. We've already rebuilt its fibres and detoxed its chemistry. Now we follow it into washing machines, repair studios and recycling plants to see what it really takes for a jacket to have not just one life, but many.
Guests:
* Charlotte Krist, Strategic Business Development, United Repair Centre [https://www.unitedrepaircentre.com/]: building industrial‑scale, brand‑integrated repair services that extend the physical and emotional life of garments, and make "repair is the new cool" a real consumer option, not just a slogan. * Shay Sethi, CEO and Founder, Ambercycle [https://www.ambercycle.com/]: developing molecular recycling technologies that separate complex fibre blends at the base‑molecule level and regenerate polyester into new, high‑quality yarns – creating a genuine end‑of‑life pathway for garments that are currently landfilled or burned. * Wajahat Hussain, CEO and Fuunder, BIORESTORE [https://www.bio-restore.com/]: turning a single laundry cycle into a way to resurface worn fabrics, remove pilling and restore colour and hand‑feel, so garments look and feel almost new.
In this episode you'll learn:
* How BIORESTORE's enzyme‑based treatment can "exfoliate" damaged fibres, remove pilling and revive colour and softness in a single wash, effectively resetting certain signs of wear. * How high‑quality repair, delivered at scale by United Repair Centre, can extend both the physical life and the emotional value of garments, turning damage into part of a garment's story rather than its end. * How Ambercycle's molecular regeneration process separates and depolymerises polyester from mixed‑fibre garments to create new, high‑quality feedstock that can replace virgin polyester. * What a realistic circular journey for a running jacket could look like when better care, repair and recycling infrastructures work together – and why design and collection systems are just as critical as breakthrough technology.
Across all three episodes, Clean Run turns an ordinary running jacket into a closed looped narrative – from the moment its fibres are imagined to the moment they are reborn – and invites us to see that, with the right choices, every garment we wear can be part of a story that never really ends.
The Clean Run series is inspired by the Performance Without Toxicity [https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/performance-without-toxicity-exhibition-tickets-1976742709657] exhibition, curated by The Mills Fabrica [https://www.themillsfabrica.com/] in partnership with Goldwin [https://www.goldwin-global.com/eu/], open until 26th June 2026 at Fabrica X in London. Entry is free.
Clean Run is a three-part series. Part 1 explores fibres and fabric and Part 2 dives into the dyes, coatings, and construction of the running jacket.
Connect with me: LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mjtharakan/] I Insta [https://www.instagram.com/noordinarycloth/] I Buy me a coffee [https://buymeacoffee.com/noordinarycloth]
Cover art: Photo by Siora, Photography on Unsplash
Music: Inspired Ambient, Orchestraman
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