A young French engineer invents a technique to keep homes warm in winter using discarded anti-cut gloves from construction sites

A young French engineer has developed a technique to make fibers that could be used to insulate buildings from discarded construction gloves. Alexis Le Dez, a recent engineering graduate from CESI Brest, developed the project while working at the construction company GCC and named it ISOGANTS.

During an 18-month project to build a senior living residence, at a construction site in Brest, the northwestern port city of France, Le Dez noticed how many pairs of protective gloves workers went through.

“With an average of eight workers on site, more than 2,000 pairs of gloves were ordered, costing around €4,500,” the engineering school wrote, announcing the findings.


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Workers regularly replace their gloves mostly because exposure to moisture, dirt, and rough materials causes them to wear out; Le Dez, who is a cyclist also, as per his LinkedIn, noticed that and began wondering whether the discarded gloves could be put to better use instead of being thrown away.

According to CESI, those cut-resistant gloves that the construction site used contain textile fibers to protect workers from cuts, and he realized these fibers could potentially be reused to make insulation material.

Extracting usable fibers from the gloves was a bit difficult. Le Dez first experimented with a kitchen grinder and a lawnmower, but neither method worked.

His breakthrough came midway through his quest after he spotted a knife sharpener at a local market. “While walking through a market, he came across a system that used porous grinding stones rotating at very high speed to sharpen knives. Intrigued by the principle, he decided to try a second-hand bench grinder,” the Brest-based school wrote.

The high-speed grinding process loosened and separated the tightly bound fibers in the gloves without tearing them apart and left a much-desired soft, fibrous material that could potentially be used in building insulation.

Le Dez then tested the material to find out whether it could provide thermal insulation.

To test whether it could actually provide insulation, he conducted comparative experiments with physical models and “monitoring changes in temperature in particular.”

“The initial measurements provided estimates of thermal conductivity and thermal resistance that appeared promising,” the CESI explained with a caution that the material is not yet ready for commercial use.

The concept is now covered by a patent registered with France's National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI). With that, Le Dez has also secured a permanent position at the construction company.

Speaking about his work, Le Dez said: “ISOGANTS is a project that is particularly close to my heart. I am proud of how far I have come, because despite the difficulties encountered, being able to present this innovation is already an initial achievement, even though the hardest part is still ahead.”

About Alexis Le Dez

Alexis Le Dez graduated from CESI Engineering School in July 2026 with a degree in construction engineering. As per his LinkedIn, he joined the French construction company GCC as an apprentice in October 2023 and continued working there after completing his studies. He also spent six months in Sweden in 2025, working as an assistant tunnel construction engineer at Kreate Sverige AB.

He is now developing ISOGANTS alongside his career as a construction engineer. He also co-founded SMAL & CO, a cycling collective based in Brittany, France.