From Tights to Tables: Innovative Recycling from Swedish Stockings

27 May

You’ve put on a pair of brand new tights, they rip the second you put them on, but you don’t want to throw them away – we’ve all been there. Tights are a garment with a ridiculously short lifespan, and no one knows that better than sustainable hosiery producers, Swedish Stockings. Although recycling old pantyhose into new ones is not possible just yet, the creative brand has found a truly Scandi way of dealing with masses of discarded tights. Meet ‘Innovations’, their new furniture design project created in collaboration with Swedish product designer Gustaf Westman.

If you’re familiar with Swedish Stockings, you’ll know their environmental responsibility efforts are already pretty good. From their zero-waste production process, to their ‘Recycling Club’, where old tights are ground and moulded into industrial tanks; the brand’s influence over the still harmful and wasteful hosiery industry has been immense. This year, they are taking things a step further, by creating beautiful interior objects out of your old tights!

The Innovation tables, cylindrical in shape and resembling moss-coloured marble, are in fact created from what we could only describe as pantyhose pulp. Made to order, the glamorous tables could have up to 350 pairs of tights in them! The minimal design and neutral colour palette will surely suit any living room, and will most definitely become the conversation starter of all coffee mornings and wine nights.

“Hosiery is a petroleum product that usually ends up in landfills in which they never fully degrade. Swedish Stockings invites customers to send in any brand of broken hosiery for recycling to our warehouse. We have taken the responsibility upon ourselves to show other hosiery brands how to take responsibility for their products at the end of their life. We hope to inspire, challenge and change things for the better.””

— Linn Frisinger, Founder & CEO of Swedish Stockings

The functional, tube-shaped tables are available in a variety of sizes and styles – from low sideboards to a hefty, round dining table. We think they’re absolutely brilliant at mimicking luxury design items, while adding functional, stylish sculptures to your home. It’s mind-blowing to think a solution like that is feasible (with a stunning result), and we would love to see more projects like this one coming from other brands. Disposing of waste entirely seems like an impossible task, but clearly it can be turned into something beautiful.