sustainability / Circularity

Over the last month, a flurry of companies with backers from H&M to Inditex have advanced plans to build their first industrial-scale textile-to-textile recycling plants, advancing a technology that is often held up as a holy-grail-like solution to many of fashion’s environmental ills.

The nascent textile recycling industry has been positioned as a holy grail solution to fashion’s environmental challenges. The reality is more complicated.

The company has gained new backing from Taranis, an investment firm owned by oil company Perenco, and additional funds from investors including Zara-owner Inditex as it looks to bring its recycling capabilities to commercial scale.

This year offered up a jarring reality check for players seeking to improve the industry’s environmental and social impact, with brands deprioritising sustainability efforts even as the risks of inaction have become more apparent.

A fragmented fashion industry needs to cooperate in order to avoid falling further behind on decarbonisation efforts, according to the BoF-McKinsey State of Fashion 2025.

As the EU seeks to crack down on a growing glut of clothing waste, the rise of low-value ultra-fast-fashion, along with increased competition and geopolitical disruption, are putting pressure on the economics of collecting, sorting and recycling used textiles.

Cheap and versatile polyester has underpinned both the fashion industry’s growth and its worsening environmental footprint. Efforts to switch to recycled fibre are stalled, new data show.

A new California bill proposes that brands take charge of recycling efforts, allowing consumers to drop off unwanted clothing at designated sites.