H&M Group expands Renewcell partnership to recycle textiles

The H&M Group has reached a multi-year agreement with Renewcell, an innovative Swedish textile recycling company. Renewcell will supply the retail company with thousands of tons of its pioneering virgin quality Circulose fibers, which are made from unusable textile waste.

H&M first began working with Renewcell in 2012, and financed the supplier through their investment arm CO:LAB in 2017. The retailer used Circulose in its Conscious Exclusive collection in March 2020.

This new agreement brings H&M a step closer to achieving its goal of becoming fully circular. Renewcell will provide the company with enough Circulose to produce millions of garments across its brands over the next five years.

“In continuing our long-term partnership with Renewcell, this agreement is an important milestone not only for H&M Group, but also for the wider industry in terms of having a circular product like theirs available at scale," H&M's head of sustainability, Pascal Brun, commented in a statement. "To become fully circular and achieve our 2030 goal that all our materials should be either recycled or sourced in a more sustainable way, we need to ensure materials such as Circulose are a core part of our material portfolio going forward.”

Image: H&M Group