Recycling news and archive

China: AI scanner analyses textiles for recycling in seconds

A recycling plant has been developed in China that uses artificial intelligence to quickly and automatically analyse textile waste according to its material composition. The “Fastsort-Textile” machine was developed by the Chinese company DataBeyond and named one of the best inventions of 2025 by The Times Magazine. The plant combines a conveyor...

Fashion Partner Content

King Louie takes major step towards circular fashion with collection made from textile waste

Annually, 99 percent of all textile waste worldwide is lost through destruction, landfill, or remaining unused. King Louie aims to break this trend and contribute to a circular fashion industry. The brand proudly introduces a new collection that transforms textile waste into stylish designs—a step towards creating more with fewer resources. New...

Fashion

H&M Foundation announces Global Change Award 2026 finalists

The H&M Foundation has announced its top 20 finalists for the 2026 Global Change Award (GCA). Selected from 450 ideas submitted from 81 countries across six continents, the innovations from the 20 early-stage finalists are set to be reviewed by the GCA Expert Panel together with the H&M Foundation team. From the 20 finalists, the panel and team...

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Business

Madewell, Reformation and C&A partner with Fiber Club from Circ to accelerate use of recycled textiles

Lifestyle brand Madewell, Los Angeles-based fashion brand Reformation, and European retailer C&A are three of the newest brand partners to join the Fiber Club initiative from Circ, a US-based textile-to-textile recycler. The three new brand partners, together with fiber manufacturer Lenzing and Linz Textil, a European manufacturer of yarns,...

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Business

Global apparel & textile recycling market predicted to hit 20.2 billion dollars by 2031

The global clothing and textile recycling market is projected to reach a total worth of 20.2 billion US dollars, up from 13.6 billion US dollars in 2024, according to the latest Valuates Report, highlighting the growing value of this sector. Driven by the advancement of circular-economy initiatives around the world, this increase represents a...

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Business

Future Snoops: “AI can become one of the most powerful sustainability tools we have”

“The future isn’t predetermined. The impact of AI depends entirely on how we choose to use it. If we’re intentional, if we design responsibly and act with purpose, AI can become one of the most powerful drivers of sustainability in the decade ahead,” said Emma Grace Bailey, director of sustainability at Future Snoops (FS), during the trend...

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Business|Opinion

What sustainability and circularity experts predict for fashion in 2026

With 2026 fast approaching, FashionUnited asks six sustainability and circularity experts what fashion and retail should expect next. Fashion in 2026: Sustainability and circular experts on what’s coming next 1. Tiina Nyman, founder at Circular Fashion News Resale continues to drive the strongest momentum in circular fashion. The number of...

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Business

GFA sets out to establish textile waste management systems in Türkiye

Global Fashion Agenda (GFA), the organiser behind the annual Global Fashion Summit, has announced the launch of a new initiative aimed at backing the development of textile waste systems in Türkiye. Türkiye becomes the fourth manufacturing region to implement this programme, following the path of Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Indonesia. Akin to...

Fashion

British brand Rapanui uses recycled cotton from own Remill T2T factory

Just in time for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which now mark an entire week of discounts, British circular clothing brand Rapanui is offering a reminder that there is another way. Collections can be made from recovered cotton fibres, thus avoiding contributing to the growing mountain of textile waste. Eighty percent of all Black Friday...

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Fashion

Canopy adds eight new fashion partners as industry pressure mounts to protect ancient forests

Environmental non-profit Canopy has expanded its fashion-sector coalition, adding eight companies to its Pack4Good and CanopyStyle initiatives in a move that underscores the industry’s accelerating pivot toward forest-free materials. Marc O’Polo, Victoria’s Secret & Co., Akyn, Mint Velvet, Spell, OUTnABOUT, DÔEN and ICICLE have all signed on to...

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Fashion

Haelixa and New Focus Textiles deliver forensic proof of recycled cotton

In what could be a turning point for transparency in the recycled materials market, Swiss traceability firm Haelixa has teamed up with New Focus Textiles to embed forensic-level proof of recycled cotton across the latter’s textile-to-textile (T2T) operations. The move reflects a growing recognition in fashion: recycled claims are only as strong...

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Business|Interview

Shoe circularity gets trial run: Footwear Collective pilots circular systems amid EPR push

While fashion’s recycling systems are steadily advancing, footwear remains one of the industry’s toughest circularity challenges. It is this challenge, however, that The Footwear Collective is looking to tackle head-on through a series of shoe-dedicated programmes that intend to address the lack of infrastructure readily available to this...