From CO2

REOCOER® (Shenghong)
“Carbon capture” polyester fiber from the Shenghong group. The technology collects the CO₂ emitted by factories and converts it into green ethylene glycol, which is then polymerized with PTA to make the fiber.The fiber is fully traceable, suitable for knitted and woven fabrics, and available in all POY, DTY and FDY specifications. Shenghong states a 28.4% reduction in carbon emissions compared with virgin yarns (SGS data). A third-party article reports a first expansion phase of 30,000 t/year and the Sustainability & Innovation Award of the international textile federation ITMF (The China Academy).

Fairbrics and THREADING-CO2
The EU-funded project, led by the French start-up Fairbrics, runs from 2023 to the end of 2026 and aims to demonstrate at industrial scale a technology that turns CO2 waste streams into polyester. The company claims a 70% cut in greenhouse gas emissions versus fossil-based PET. Ethylene glycol already comes from CO2, terephthalic acid not yet. A pilot of one tonne a day was planned for 2026: read more.

Rubi Laboratories
Californian start-up that uses enzymes, in a cell-free system, to convert CO2 into cellulose pulp, which is then spun like viscose. GANNI was the first brand to trial a blend with 20% Rubi cellulose yarn. Stated goal: price parity with standard viscose. Early-stage technology.

From cells, plants and algae

GALY: Literally Cotton
Cotton grown from plant cells in bioreactors, not in fields. Inditex took a stake in July 2024, and in September 2024 GALY raised USD 33 million to reach pre-industrial scale. It has a ten-year, USD 50 million agreement with Suzuran Medical. A July 2026 analysis notes it is not yet positioned to replace conventional cotton.

MATTR™ – Algae-Based Next-Gen Material Algae-based materials are emerging as one of the most promising next-gen fiber innovations.Derived from red algae or marine biomass, these materials can be blended or processed into flexible sheets and textile-like surfaces.

Kintra Fibers
US company with a bio-based, biodegradable polyester alternative that can be made on PET equipment. It claims 95% lower carbon emissions than conventional polyester. Investors include H&M, Bestseller, Inditex, Reformation and Fashion for Good.

SeaCell™ and Smartcel™ (Smartfiber)
German company. SeaCell™ is a lyocell fibre in which Icelandic seaweed (Ascophyllum nodosum), ground to a micron-sized powder, is added to the cellulose solution; it is produced with Lenzing. Smartcel™ Sensitive adds zinc oxide for skin care.

Keel Labs: Kelsun™
Formerly AlgiKnit (North Carolina). Yarn from seaweed biopolymer, which the company says is compostable within 60 days in third-party tests. Backed by Horizons Ventures and H&M CO:LAB; Stella McCartney is a partner.

PANGAIA Science & Innovation Hub
Materials science company with C-FIBER™, FLWRDWN™, PPRMINT™, PANettle™ and PANHemp™, natural dyes and partner materials such as Vegea. It makes seaweed-fibre fabrics from organic cotton and lyocell. B Corp certified.

Cellulosic

SUNCELL™ (Zhengzhou Zhongyuan Group)
Industrial-grade filament lyocell, with a closed-loop system and solvent recovery of up to 99.5%, stated to be fully biodegradable. Filament is rare compared with staple and is of interest as a silky alternative to viscose and acetate. It also offers a high-tenacity cellulosic technical yarn for composites, plastics and rubber, as well as fabrics, unidirectional fabrics and nonwovens. Data on capacity, customers, prices and independent certifications are not verified.

LONGCELL® (Zhejiang Huafeng Longcell Fiber Technology)
Continuous-filament lyocell brand, introduced in 2017 as the first Chinese brand in this segment. It dissolves cellulose (wood or bamboo pulp) in an aqueous NMMO solution, in a closed-loop system. Stated to be fully biodegradable, with OEKO-TEX® STANDARD 100 certification. Planned capacity: 20,000 t/year, with a planned investment of RMB 1.2 billion.

Spinnova
Finnish technology that makes fibre from wood or waste cellulose without dissolving it and without harmful chemicals. Production at the Woodspin demonstration factory stopped in June 2025 when Suzano withdrew. Spinnova took full ownership in October 2025, started trial runs in April 2026 and aims to restart larger-scale production during 2026, with Sulzer as technology partner.

Juncao: grass instead of wood
Fast-growing, high-yield grass promoted in China to replace wood pulp. Xinxiang Chemical Fiber (Bailu group), China’s leading viscose filament producer, has completed R&D on juncao and is integrating it into its main production line. Canopy notes that the company continues to seek scientific assessments of the impact of juncao fiber (Canopy Hot Button Report profile). Juncao is a fast-growing grass, promoted in China as an alternative to wood pulp. According to a third-party analysis, in April 2025 Bailu acquired 100% of Xinxiang Juncao New Materials Technology to secure the non-wood feedstock (DCF analysis). The company has filed patents on regenerated cellulose fiber from juncao since 2023 (patent profile). No public data on volumes, counts or certifications of the juncao fiber has been found yet. Juncao YARN brand Bailu

REBOOCEL™ (Jilin Chemical Fiber)
Bamboo viscose staple fiber launched by the Chinese producer Jilin Chemical Fiber, made of 70% FSC-certified bamboo and 30% post-consumer recycled bamboo recovered from discarded furniture. The company announced the start of commercial-scale production, targeting 30,000 t/year (Canopy press release, May 2025). It is one of Jilin’s two “Next Gen” lines, together with JIRECELL™ (filament viscose with 30% recycled cotton Circulose® pulp). Jilin has worked with Canopy since 2019 and received a “Dark Green Shirt” in the 2024 Hot Button Report (Canopy profile).

TreeToTextile and Livaeco™ Lyocell
In February 2026 Lenzing took a majority share in the Swedish company TreeToTextile, whose cellulose fibre technology is described as the next big step after viscose and lyocell. Birla Cellulose has launched Livaeco™ Lyocell, with a molecular tracer to verify its origin along the supply chain.

TENCEL™ and REFIBRA™ (Lenzing)
TENCEL™ lyocell is made from FSC-certified wood in a closed-loop process (Lenzing reports 99.5% solvent recovery). REFIBRA™ adds cotton scraps to the wood pulp, reducing virgin raw material. Brands include GANNI, Kings of Indigo and Timberland.

OnceMore® (Södra)
Process for mixed post-consumer textile waste, combined with wood from responsibly managed forests, to make textile pulp for viscose and lyocell. Brands include Jack & Jones, Lindex and Filippa K. Södra and Lenzing have cooperated on textile recycling since 2021.The main objective of the LIFE TREATS project is to scale up a composition of 50% recycled textiles and 50% wood. The Swedish plant aims to reach a processing capacity of 50,000 tonnes per year of mixed post-consumer textile waste (including various colors and materials) to produce as much as 60,000 tonnes per year of cellulose pulp for the market.

Recycled polyester

Seaqual®
Brand of recycled polyester yarn and fiber, launched in 2016 by Ecoalf, Antex and Textil Santanderina (Ecotextile, Textile Network). Seaqual® YARN is made of about 10% plastic recovered from seas, lakes and waterways in Europe and about 90% post-consumer plastic from land sources (Dezeen). Seaqual® collects, cleans and transforms the plastic into fiber, which is then processed by spinners, weavers and brands. A portion of proceeds goes to the Seaqual Foundation, which supports the recovery of waste from oceans, beaches, estuaries and rivers.

Bionic®
US materials company making fully traceable yarns and polymers from coastal and marine plastic (HDPE), with FLX, DPX and HLX yarn types.

Reborn
Recycled polyester produced since 2018, with what the group says is the world’s first line that goes directly from PET bottle flakes to spinning. The Reborn Technology project, focused on direct spinning from recycled PET bottle flakes, has redefined industry standards for textile sustainability, winning the prestigious Second Prize of the Jiangsu Provincial Science and Technology Progress Award.
It can produce fibers with 65% and 100% recycled content, including cationic and high-shrinkage types, and offers several series: matte, cationic, island, dope-dyed (liquid coloring), cotton-effect and others.
Besides Reborn, the group claims a “CO₂-capture” fiber called Reocoer, with a supply chain running from carbon dioxide to green ethylene glycol to functional polyester.

Carbios
Enzymatic PET recycling. In July 2026 it extended its licensing offer to textiles and reported conversions above 95% in 24 hours on complex textile waste streams, after 100 batches at its Clermont-Ferrand demonstration plant (press release of 21 July 2026). The recycled polyester, marketed as EnzyTex (r-PET pellets or yarn), was repolymerized by Selenis and made into T-shirts entirely in Europe on standard industrial equipment, with Fiber-to-Fiber Consortium members Patagonia, PUMA and Salomon (press release of 29 September 2026). The consortium also includes On and PVH. The Haining plant (China), with Wankai New Materials, is now expected in the first half of 2028.

T2T

Syre
Swedish company founded by H&M Group and Vargas. Its textile-to-textile process turns post-consumer polyester into circular polyester of virgin-like quality. After a multi-year supply agreement with Nike, it plans a plant in Vietnam (about USD 700 million), with construction expected in 2027 and production targeted for late 2029, according to its CEO. Long-term goal: about a dozen plants and roughly 3 million tonnes a year.

NuCycl® (Evrnu)
US company regenerating cotton-rich pre- and post-consumer waste into NuCycl® lyocell, which it says can be recycled several times. Partners and customers include adidas, Levi’s, Stella McCartney and Zara. A first commercial plant of 18,000 tonnes a year has been announced.

Axens, IFPEN and JEPLAN (Rewind® PET)
In April 2026 the partners processed several tens of tonnes of European post-consumer polyester-rich textile waste into BHET, the base monomer of 100% recycled polyester, which is to be turned into yarns, fabrics and garments. Syre and Jeplan are also cooperating, aiming at multi-ton volumes by late 2026.

Circ®
US company (Danville, Virginia) whose patented textile-to-textile (T2T) process separates polyester and cellulose from polycotton blends, producing Circ® Polyester and Circ® Lyocell. Inditex is an investor and Zara one of its brands. Its first industrial-scale plant is under way in Saint-Avold, in north-eastern France, and in March 2026 Linz Textil joined its Fiber Club initiative.

• Shenghong (25 August 2026): Shenghong buys Circ’s PET chips and turns them into regenerated yarns on a commercial scale, while the T2T technology remains Circ’s (press release). Its historic Reborn fibers come from bottles, not from used clothing. Production bases are in Suzhou and Suqian.
• Primark (28 September 2026): multi-year offtake agreement. Primark will buy recycled polyester made from Circ’s textile waste and use it in its garments from 2029 (press release).
• Bailu: has signed an agreement to use Circ’s recycled pulp for commercial filament viscose, as a production partner in China for brands and spinners.

Supply chain: textile waste is collected in Europe, turned into recycled pulp (Södra OnceMore, Circulose, which restarts in Q4 2026, or Circ), processed in China, and the yarn often returns to Europe.

Worn Again Technologies
Chemical recycling that separates and regenerates polyester and cellulose from polycotton waste. In March 2026 the company started up its Accelerator plant in Winterthur, Switzerland, with over 95% solvent recovery. The first module recovers spinnable polyester; a cellulose module is in engineering. Partners include H&M Group, Sulzer Chemtech and Kering.

Reju
Chemical recycler of mixed post-consumer textile waste. Demonstration plant in Frankfurt since October 2024; first commercial plant (Rochester, USA) expected at the end of 2028 or in 2029.

Cellulosic and cotton

Bailu-Eco: filament viscose yarn with about 30% post-consumer recycled content, made with Södra’s OnceMore pulp. It started at 5% and the share has increased over time.

ByluRecel: pilot line inaugurated in April 2025 that skips the pulp stage and starts directly from recovered textiles (mainly hotel bed linen). Initial capacity is 1,000 t/year of staple fiber, with a second line of 1,000 t/year of filament in development. About 600 t were expected for 2025.

Infinna™ (Infinited Fiber Company)
Finnish company making a cellulose carbamate fibre with a cotton-like feel from cotton-rich textile waste, without carbon disulfide. The factory in Kemi, Finland, is designed to turn about 37,000 tonnes of waste into 30,000 tonnes of fibre a year, with commercial deliveries expected in 2026. Target: 500,000 tonnes a year by 2030. Inditex has an offtake agreement and the company works with the sorter SOEX. Brands include adidas, H&M, Patagonia and Zara.

Circulose®
Dissolving pulp made from 100% recycled cotton and viscose waste, used to make viscose, lyocell and other regenerated fibres. After Renewcell’s bankruptcy, Altor acquired its assets in June 2024 and created Circulose. Kristinehamn (Sweden) can recycle 7,000 tonnes of textiles a year. Users include Levi’s and H&M, and Circulose has agreed with China Textile Academy Green Fibre to offer lyocell made with its pulp.

Recover™
Spanish family company with decades of experience in mechanical recycling of cotton (RCotton). In 2022 it received a USD 100 million minority investment led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management. With Rieter and Polopiqué it makes fine ring-spun yarns with 40% recycled content.

SaXcell
Dutch company making a regenerated cellulose fibre from chemically recycled cotton waste. According to its data, tenacity is about 43 cN/tex, higher than cotton.

Circular Systems: Texloop™ and Agraloop™
Swiss-based. Texloop™ turns pre-consumer cotton waste into RCOT™ recycled cotton, with yarns containing up to 50% GRS-certified recycled cotton. Agraloop™ uses agricultural residues. Includes Orbital™ spinning technology (patent pending). Used in H&M’s “Wear the Waste” collection.

Polyamide and elastane

Aquafil: ECONYL®
Italian group (Arco, Trento). ECONYL® nylon is regenerated from pre- and post-consumer nylon waste such as fishing nets, carpets and fabric scraps, and accounts for about 60% of the fibre division’s revenues. Aquafil has completed a demonstration plant for PET chemical recycling and, in Slovenia, a demonstration plant that separates nylon from elastane in mixed textiles.

BASF: loopamid®
Recycled polyamide 6 made entirely from post-industrial and post-consumer textile waste, including blends with elastane. Certified to the Global Recycled Standard. Lindex plans its first lingerie styles with loopamid for early 2027.

The LYCRA Company: EcoMade range
LYCRA® EcoMade (20% recycled spandex), LYCRA® T400® EcoMade (over 65% recycled or plant-based content), COOLMAX® EcoMade (100% recycled resources) and THERMOLITE® EcoMade. Partner: ITOCHU. The company also works with Qore on bio-derived BDO.

Acetate

Eastman Naia™ (Eastman is a multinational company) remains acetate, but in a more sustainable version. Naia™ Renew contains 40% certified recycled content, while Renew ES reaches 60%. In February 2026, Eastman introduced Naia™ Lyte, an acetate yarn with higher tenacity, developed together with the Chinese company Huafon Chemical.

Projects and research

Aarhus University: separating elastane from nylon
A chemical method developed at Aarhus University (Denmark) completely removes elastane from nylon, but does not yet work on cotton. So far it has only been tested in the lab, on two stockings at a time.

Research: elastic yarns without elastane
In April 2026 a student of the ITA institute received a prize for replacing conventional elastane with elastic yarns made from thermoplastic copolyester elastomers (TPC).

Fibersort
Interreg-funded project (2016–2020) led by Circle Economy, now developed with Valvan. It sorts textiles by fibre type using NIR and RGB cameras.

G2G (Garment-to-Garment, HKRITA)
Hong Kong research institute’s recycling system. Sweaters and T-shirts are preferred; garments with Lycra, spandex, down, leather, rubber prints or special coatings are not suitable.

TexCircle
Research project of Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, aiming to close the life cycle of textile products so that original materials can be reused efficiently.

DITF and STFI: spinning 100% recycled yarns
The German research institutes show that 100% recycled material can be reprocessed into yarn, provided the yarns are used in a product-oriented way.

T-REX
EU project with 12 partners across the value chain for closed-loop sorting and recycling of household textile waste. Veolia leads collection and sorting for the technologies of Infinited Fiber Company, BASF and CuRe.

SCIRT
Three-year EU project coordinated by VITO (System Circularity & Innovative Recycling of Textiles). Decathlon, Petit Bateau, Bel & Bo, HNST and Xandres will develop six types of garments with recycled fibres.

UKFT: textile recycling and circular fashion
UK project combining optical scanning, robotics, artificial intelligence, pre-processing (removal of buttons, zips and trims) and size-reduction equipment.

IONCELL® (Aalto University and University of Helsinki)
Finnish regenerated cellulose fiber technology that uses ionic liquids instead of NMMO, also called Ioncell-F. Feedstock can be wood pulp, waste paper or textile waste. It is fully biodegradable and, according to Aalto, outperforms cotton and current man-made cellulosic fibers in tests. Marimekko showed garments made with Ioncell in Helsinki in 2014 and 2016. It is still at pilot plant stage (TRL 4) and works on a licensing model. There is no evidence yet of products made with Ioncell fiber from post-consumer textile waste being on sale to consumers. The Sustainable Runway Fund (USD 100 million) has stated in its documents that it intends to finance the capacity increase, with a pilot project in Vietnam.

Latest news

Brightfiber Textiles officially announced on October 22, 2026 the immediate, indefinite suspension of fiber production at its Amsterdam facility, because the business is no longer financially sustainable. The Amsterdam plant, opened in 2024, was considered the world’s first local circular textile recycling facility, capable of processing approximately 2.5 million kilograms of textile waste per year. It worked with spinners in Europe and Turkey: Brightfiber itself supplied the regenerated fibers and then purchased the yarns produced by the spinners.

The suspension affects only fiber production. Brightfiber will continue its textile sorting and recycling activities (using AI to improve efficiency), will maintain the supply of recycled yarns and products through partners, and is evaluating the possibility of relocating fiber production to other European locations.

Brightfiber Textiles, a Dutch company specializing in circular textile recycling, had as its core business the transformation of locally collected used clothing into regenerated textile fibers, and the subsequent production of yarns, fabrics and even finished garments, with the aim of achieving a closed “garment-to-garment” loop (it used exclusively discarded used clothing from Dutch collectors). It supplied finished garments such as T-shirts and sweaters to fashion and workwear brands under the “Bright.Fiber Inside” label.

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The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Modern Syntex Limited (MSL), part of TK Group, have signed a $50 million loan for the Modern Energy-Efficient Polyester Chips Manufacturing Project in Bangladesh. The plant in Mirsarai, near Chattogram, will increase polyester chip capacity from 107 to 407 tonnes per day, nearly a fourfold rise. The project targets high-intrinsic-viscosity chips for higher-value textile and apparel uses. It aims to cut reliance on imported synthetic inputs and strengthen local supply chains, with more energy-efficient machinery. Commercial operations are targeted for 2027. The capacity figures refer only to chips, not finished fibre or apparel.

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Igers is based in Trezzano sul Naviglio (Milan) and is part of the Haiki+ group. It has opened a textile waste recycling plant in San Pietro Mosezzo (Novara), with an investment of €8 million. The inauguration took place on 21 September 2026. The plant is described as one of the largest in Europe for textile recycling.

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The US Federal Trade Commission has approved renoa, a fiber regenerated from keratin-rich textile waste, as its own apparel fiber classification. It is the first new category the agency has recognized since PLA in 2002. Developed in Everbloom’s New York City lab, renoa is described as the world’s first fiber regenerated from keratin-rich textile offcuts and waste, including down. A patented production process purifies and refines the waste into its purest protein form. Brands can begin labeling and commercializing products containing the fiber in the US market right away.

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The Apparel Recovery Coalition (ARC) is a two-year initiative launched at the end of September 2026 in the Kantamanto market in Accra, Ghana.
Over two years, it will build and test a “blueprint”, an operating framework for producer responsibility that takes into account global flows of post-consumer textiles.
It funds reuse, upcycling, recycling and waste management activities in the receiving countries. Ghana is the first demonstration case. The Or Foundation: a Ghanaian organization that has been active in the Kantamanto market for about 15 years; it estimates that the market puts 25 million garments back into circulation every month.Founding funders: adidas, BESTSELLER, H&M Group and Inditex, with voluntary contributions in 2026–2027.Circle Economy: acts as secretariat and independent facilitator.

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Global fibre market: synthetics keep growing
According to Textile Exchange’s Materials Market Report 2025, world fibre production reached 132 million tonnes in 2024. Synthetic fibres made up 69% of the total, and polyester alone about 59% (78 million tonnes). Recycled fibres held a 7.6% share, almost all of it recycled polyester from PET bottles. Less than 1% came from recycled textiles.

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Man-made fibres: forecast to 2030
Textiles Intelligence expects man-made fibre production to rise significantly between 2024 and 2030, reaching about 79% of global fibre production. Synthetic and cellulosic fibres are both expected to grow at similar rates. The full report is available for purchase.

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Kelheim Fibres closes (speciality viscose)
The German producer of speciality viscose fibres ceased operations on 31 March 2026, after a strategic investor withdrew and orders from a key customer were missing. The closure is expected to tighten the supply of speciality viscose, so buyers are reviewing their sourcing. More details on technical-textiles.net.

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Polyester filament prices in China
In May 2026, SunSirs reported a gradual decline in polyester filament prices, led by DTY, with weak demand and high inventories. Mainstream levels were about 8,400–8,600 RMB/ton for POY, 8,800–9,000 for FDY and 9,200–9,500 for DTY (May report). In the last week of June, prices weakened further: DTY held up best thanks to processing margins, while POY fell the most. SunSirs publishes weekly updates.

Pre- and post-consumer waste. According to Textile Exchange, less than 1% of global fibre production comes from recycled textiles; most recycled polyester still comes from PET bottles.

Stay update

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