Innovations and Industry Shifts Are Helping Turn Old Clothes into New Fabrics

In the ever-evolving world of fashion, the concept of recycling is finally gaining momentum, offering a promising solution to the industry’s massive waste problem. While plastic bottles have long been the primary source of recycled fabric, the focus is shifting toward repurposing used clothing, which has been piling up in landfills or incinerated. Companies are now scaling up textile recycling on an industrial level, signaling a long-awaited shift in the fight against fashion’s environmental impact.

RE&UP Technologies, a Dutch-based venture owned by Turkish textile conglomerate Sanko, is at the forefront of this movement. Their factories in Turkey process worn-out clothes from Europe, breaking down garments into cotton and polyester fibers that can be spun into new yarns. The process involves removing zippers and buttons, shredding the garments, and then using chemicals and heat to separate out cotton and polyester. The resulting fibers are white and ready to be spun into new yarns. Despite the progress, the global recycled textile market remains small, with less than 1% of the fiber market coming from recycled materials in 2024, according to Textile Exchange, a nonprofit that aims to help guide the textile and fashion industries toward a smaller carbon footprint.

However, recent technological advancements and new legislation are helping to bridge this gap. Several companies are now planning to build large-scale textile-to-textile recycling factories capable of producing tens of thousands of metric tons of recycled cotton and polyester annually. RE&UP, for example, has a combined capacity of 80,000 metric tons per year and aims to reach one million metric tons by 2030. The company plans to expand in Europe, likely in Spain or France, and eventually in Asia, as stated by Andreas Dorner, general manager.

Other players, such as Circ and Reju, are also scaling up their operations with innovative methods that break down blended fabrics more efficiently. In Saint-Avold, France, a recycling plant being built by Circ, a U.S. startup, is set to begin operations by 2028 with a capacity of 70,000 metric tons a year. Circ’s hydrothermal method uses water, heat, and chemicals to break down the polyester in blended fabrics and separate it from the cotton, leaving both ready for reuse. Circ has demonstration plants in Danville, Va., and Springfield, Ohio, that have supplied limited amounts of recycled materials to clothing makers, including the material for sneakers from Allbirds and garments from luxury designer Patrick McDowell.

Reju, a venture started in 2023 by oil-and-gas engineering firm Technip, is building a plant in the Netherlands that will have a capacity to produce 50,000 metric tons of recycled material from used polyester textiles, with first deliveries in 2029. Its process produces a compound that is provided to factories that can use it to make polyester. It built a demonstration site in Germany last year that can produce 1,000 metric tons of the compound.

Syre, a recycler founded by H&M Group and Vargas Investments, is planning factories for polyester recycling around the world and earlier this year announced agreements with Gap, Houdini, and Target to use its recycled material. A demonstration plant with a capacity of 1,000 metric tons started running this year in Mebane, N.C., and another plant in Cedar Creek, N.C., is scheduled to start up by next year with a capacity of 10,000 metric tons. Syre aims to have larger-scale plants running before the end of the decade. The company is starting with textile waste with 90% or higher polyester content, because that is where it sees the most business opportunity. “The use of polyester is increasing,” says Dennis Nobelius, chief executive of Syre. “There is a huge market opportunity and there is a huge climate impact you can make.”

Larger-scale collection of old clothes is also becoming a priority. The European Union is finalizing regulations that will require clothing manufacturers to fund and manage the recycling of their products. Meanwhile, fashion brands like Puma and Bestseller are increasingly using recycled fibers in their products. As the industry moves forward, the focus is on both technological innovation and regulatory support to ensure a sustainable future for fashion.