Globally, about 92 million tonnes of textile waste are generated each year, and uniforms are a significant part of that. In Johor, Malaysia, a company called Wakili Venture Bhd is trying to address this problem through adjustments to its business model.

According to The Edge Malaysia Weekly, the company's founder, Michelle Tee, comes from a family uniform manufacturing business. In 2021 she left the original company, and three years later founded the uniform brand The Runway, focusing on a "work-to-leisure" design concept so employees can wear the garments beyond company shirts for social or sports occasions, extending clothing lifespan. Tee herself believes sustainability is not just a materials issue; the key is whether people are willing to wear them and wear them for a long time.

Wakili Venture has obtained B Corp certification, becoming one of 19 certified companies in Malaysia. The company also launched an "impact order" recycling program for customers: a single order of 1,000 pieces or more qualifies for old uniform recycling, and participating customers receive a 10% discount on their next order. The program currently mainly targets large enterprises purchasing uniforms in bulk.

On the recycling side, Tee admits that Malaysia does not yet have textile-to-textile closed-loop recycling capability—the closest facility is a large-scale recycling plant that Swiss company Syre plans to set up in Binh Dinh Province, Vietnam, with a memorandum of understanding signed last April. Therefore, at this stage Wakili Venture first works with partners to upcycle old uniforms into other items, while some are processed into alternative fuel (PEF) for the cement industry to reduce fossil fuel consumption.

In terms of material selection, the company has not stopped at a single solution. Among the three customer cases listed on its website, IOI Properties Group uses fabrics containing plant-based fibers, while Fraser & Neave Holdings customized parkas made from recycled PET plastic bottles. Tee explains that cotton waste uniforms can be turned into industrial rags, but cotton prices are volatile and corporate procurement needs more stable costs; polyester has recycling potential but requires high recycling infrastructure, otherwise it can only be downcycled and requires new virgin materials.

Notably, UN data shows that global textile production doubled between 2000 and 2015, while the lifespan of a single garment fell by 36%; in 2023, only 8% of global textile fibers came from recycled sources. Malaysia's Ministry of Housing and Local Government's Circular Economy Blueprint 2025-2035 also points out that in 2012 textile waste accounted for 3.1% of the country's household waste and 2.2% of commercial and industrial waste.

Industry observers believe that corporate uniforms, due to brand ownership issues, usually find it hard to enter the second-hand market, and most end up either shredded into fuel or handed to artisans to be transformed into gifts. Wakili Venture's attempt shows that in markets lacking closed-loop technologies such as chemical recycling, brands are extending the wearing cycle on the design side and establishing customer return-investment mechanisms on the recycling side, moving forward on both fronts first.

Source: Waste: Tackling the problem of used uniforms · Originally published on 2026-09-23