Dive Brief:
- Apparel retailer H&M established a partnership with Puma, an athletic retailer, to test an innovative textile-to-textile technology.
- The companies will work toward transforming recycled cotton into clothing, as opposed to using sustainable cotton.
- The inventor of the textile-to-textile chemical-recycling technology is Worn Again, a company based in the UK that began upcycling textile waste to create new products and later transitioned to a zero waste consulting firm.
Dive Insight:
The technology is expected to be used in commercial applications in a couple of years. The tests will be overseen by H&M and Puma.
The technology will focus on separating polyester and cottons blends and separating dyes from polyester and cellulose. The raw materials will be used to spin new textiles.
Cyndi Rhoades, CEO of Worn Again, said, "Our technology is at the heart of a global vision which will engage all brands, textile recyclers, suppliers and consumers, in a unified ambition to keep clothing already in circulation out of landfill, and as part of a global pool of resources to be used time and time again."
