Project Plan B
The Company
Project Plan B is a B2B clothing company that designs, manufactures and recycles clothing at the end of life to provide circularity in garment development. Plan B have successfully piloted technology that can mechanically recycle polyester back to rPET – the building blocks of all polyester clothing.
R&D Focus
The BFTT project undertook research into the environmental and economic impact of mechanical polyester recycling, alongside focused R&D into yarn spinning from Project Plan B recycled polyester. Research showed a significant carbon and cost reduction for the production of textile-to-textile rPET in comparison to virgin polyester.
The state-of-the-art Project Plan B polyester recycling plant will open at the SATCoL site in Kettering in September 2023, the first of its kind in the UK.
Team
Vimasha Jeewandara
R&D Project Lead
UAL
Vimasha is a Textile Engineer with over eight years of industry experience spanning across the textile value chain. She has successfully led projects in material development, process innovation and new business identification. She has delivered projects in collaboration with business partners and leading research institutes in the UK and EU and has always connected academic research with business-driven project objectives. Whilst working at MAS Holdings and Pentland brands, UK, she has been involved in an array of innovation and sustainability projects for major brands such as Nike, Lululemon, VS, Amanté, Speedo, Ellesse, and have led and mentored cross-functional teams. She holds an honours degree in Textile Process Engineering from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, and is a Chartered Management Accountant.
Tim Cross
R&D Company Lead
Project Plan B
Managing Director of Project Plan B, Tim has a wealth of business, strategy and industry expertise. With ethical trading always at the centre of his work, Tim believes circularity to be the future for the textiles industry. Pioneering for positive change, he created the first effective circular solution for workwear.
Prof Kate Goldsworthy
R&D Academic Mentor
UAL
Kate is Professor of Circular Design and Innovation and Co-Director of the Centre for Circular Design at UAL, a world-leading research centre using practice research to innovate, steer and support circular economies and communities around the globe. Kate’s design research operates at the intersection of materials science with design and sustainability principles. As industry and Governments raise the priority of sustainable business, Kate has undertaken a range of industrial consultancy projects for fashion and textiles organisations including Worn Again Technologies Ltd, Filippa K, VF Corporation and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Core skills and competences include:
- Laser finishing for fashion and textiles
- Circular economy and circular design research
- Sustainable business consultancy in the fashion sector
