An experimental textile recycling project in Western Australia is turning retired fire-service uniforms into new yarns and garments by combining recovered fibers with locally grown cotton.
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University doctoral researcher Lisa Piller leads the project, which uses decommissioned uniforms from Western Australia’s Parks and Wildlife Service. The recovered fibers are blended with cotton grown in the state’s Kimberley region as part of an effort to explore regional textile recycling and manufacturing.
The work forms part of “Walking in Circles,” Piller’s doctoral research project examining circular and regenerative textile systems. RMIT announced the recycling initiative last week.
“These uniforms have spent years protecting the firefighters who work to safeguard Western Australia’s forests, parks and wildlife,” Piller said. “Rather than ending their life in storage or landfill, we’ve been exploring how those fibers can be recovered, reprocessed and transformed into entirely new garments.”
Working with researchers at the ARC Research Hub for Future Fibres, Piller learned fiber-processing techniques including blending, carding and spinning to develop experimental yarns from the recovered uniform materials.
The project incorporates Kimberley-grown cotton from the first processing run of the region’s new cotton gin. According to RMIT, the facility allows locally grown cotton to be processed within the region rather than transported thousands of kilometers interstate.
Combining recovered uniform fibers with the regional cotton provides one example of how discarded textiles and locally produced raw materials could be brought together in new products.
The resulting garments were presented at Fremantle Design Week 2026 as part of “Imagine: Material Stories,” an exhibition exploring alternative materials and circular design.
Piller’s “Walking in Circles” presentation featured five collaborative design capsules incorporating Western Australian materials, including recovered uniforms, cotton, merino wool, seaweed and food-waste-derived fibers.
The broader project brings together designers, researchers and material producers to examine how regional resources can be used in fashion and textile development. Its listed collaborators include the Parks and Wildlife Service, Kimberley Cotton Company, ThreadUp Australia and the ARC Research Hub for Future Fibres.
The uniform recycling work remains experimental. RMIT’s announcement did not specify the original garments’ fiber compositions, the percentage of recovered material in the new yarns or the volume of textile waste processed.
For now, the project offers an example of researchers working with discarded technical textiles and regional agricultural fibers to create new garments.