On September 18, Vienna Fashion Week will host a special runway show at Hall E of the MuseumsQuartier. Austrian fashion brand Fröhlich will present around 40 garments, marking the brand's first foray into designing with recycled textile materials. Brand owner Gabriele Rigby said the recycled fabric is stiffer than commonly used materials, and adapting cuts and styles to suit the material's characteristics was an interesting challenge.

The origin of these fabrics is noteworthy. They come from a pilot project launched by Styrian waste management company Saubermacher. Nunu Kaller, a longtime advocate of fair fashion who is participating in the show as a sustainability expert, pointed out that currently only about 1% of textile waste is actually recycled, with the bottleneck lying in material sorting—a task that is costly, labor-intensive, and rarely implemented in practice.

Saubermacher is planning to commission its own old-clothes sorting facility near Graz. According to Kaller, this will be the first such plant in Central Europe. Fabrics shredded there can serve as raw material for fiber manufacturers, while old clothes still in good condition will be collected separately for refurbishment. Kaller commented that with old clothes piling up at an ever-growing scale, this sorting plant will be a major step toward an effective circular economy. Saubermacher, for its part, believes textile recycling requires multi-party collaboration, and this Fashion Week appearance is expected to mark a milestone.

Source: Vienna Fashion Week: Geschredderte Altkleider für den Laufsteg · Originally published on 2026-09-15