A study supported by clothing company H&M found clothing materials that can absorb carbon in the air. According to Reuters, Friday, May 20, 2022, a trial was carried out on the aprons worn by the crew of a restaurant in Stockholm by the Hong Kong Institute of Textiles and Apparel Research (HKRITA). The institute developed fibers containing amines, which enable cotton to attract carbon dioxide gas and capture it, then stabilize and deposit it on the textile surface. HKRITA CEO Edwin Keh said his team was inspired by the techniques used in the chimneys of coal-fired power plants to limit emissions.

"Many power plants have to remove as much carbon dioxide as possible from the air before the smoke is released," he said. "We thought 'why don't we try to replicate that chemical process on cotton fibres'.

A T-shirt can absorb about a third of what a tree absorbs per day, says Keh. "The (capturing) capacity isn't very high but it's cheap enough to manufacture and fairly easy, and we think there are a lot of potential applications."

The apron used in the trial was manufactured by an H&M supplier in Indonesia, using existing factory equipment for maintenance, Keh said. "It's a fairly simple chemical process."

Aprons after use are heated to 30-40 degrees Celsius at which temperature they release CO2 - into the greenhouse where the gas is taken up by plants.

The H&M Foundation said the innovation has the potential to be a game changer in reducing global CO2 emissions.

Projects to develop CO2-absorbing textiles are still at an early stage, and their potential contribution to reducing the environmental impact of the textile industry remains to be seen.

Keh said the agency will now develop the technology further, and try to find other uses, as well as other ways to use or dispose of the captured CO2.

HKRITA, partly financed by the philanthropic arm of Swedish fashion retailer H&M, has developed a number of innovations aimed at making fashion more sustainable. One that has achieved industrial use is the technique of separating cotton and polyester fibers in blended textiles.