Big fashion brands back new textile recycling technology

After years of searching for a solution to the worldwide problem of textile waste, pioneering start-up Worn Again is joining forces with fashion retailer H&M, and luxury, sport & lifestyle group, Kering, to bring to market what it terms "a revolutionary innovation in clothing production and recycling".

The new technology addresses the major barriers in textile-to-textile recycling, namely: how to separate blended fibre garments; and how to separate dyes and other contaminants from polyester and cellulose. Once separated, the aim is for the process to enable the ‘recaptured’ polyester and cellulose from cotton to be spun into new fabric (creating a ‘circular resource model’ for textiles).

H&M and Kering, via its brand Puma, will be monitoring the testing of the technology to see if the process is commercially viable.

“Innovation is what we need to solve our global environmental challenges. Our collaboration with H&M and Worn Again is a great example of this, demonstrating how we can design and deliver a solution that will be fundamental in eradicating textile waste while simultaneously offering a new type of sustainable raw material for our Sport & Lifestyle brands,” commented Marie-Claire Daveu, chief sustainability officer and head of international institutional affairs at Kering.