Arvind Limited

The Cotton Reloop Matrix Project maps and validates what mechanically recycled cotton fibre and yarn can currently deliver against real-world brand specifications, while collaborating with the supply chain to establish a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for handling and processing recycled fibres, building the shared, objective view needed to close that gap.

This project was designed to organise and optimise India’s textile waste supply chain. By evaluating various waste streams for collection, sorting, and pre-processing, the initiative aimed to enhance circularity in textiles. It sought to improve collection and sorting systems, foster recycling infrastructure, and introduce innovative solutions to generate new revenue streams and next-generation materials from textile waste-reducing reliance on virgin resources and minimising landfill and incineration.

India generates around 3,944k tonnes of post-consumer textile waste annually, with 48% viable for recycling feedstock, though inadequate sorting and recycling systems prevent full utilisation. This project involved two primary pilots that tested sorting innovations: Matoha’s FabriTell desktop scanner for semi-automated sorting and PICVISA’s ECOSORT for fully automated sorting. The pilots aimed to assess these technologies’ ability to categorise waste by fibre and colour efficiently, ultimately facilitating quality feedstock production for recycling. Initial findings suggest India could effectively harness a closed-loop textile recycling system, with cotton and polyester blends as dominant waste types.

The Sorting for Circularity Europe project was launched in early 2021 and initiated by Fashion for Good together with Circle Economy. The project was made possible by catalytic funding from Laudes Foundation and brand partners, adidas, BESTSELLER, Inditex and Zalando, with H&M Group as key project partners. The project addressed the need for data on textile waste in the market, identifying waste types and recycling opportunities.

Initiated by Fashion for Good, Future Forward Factories focuses on transforming tier 2 processing in the textile industry through innovative low-impact, decarbonisation solutions. It aims to generate actionable blueprints for factories of the future that combine renewable energy and technology upgradation including mostly dry processing innovations. These blueprints take into account macro geographical factors, product customisations, and a lens of just transition to achieve near net-zero facilities that not only offer a strong return on investment, but are also inclusive and people-centric.

The aim of the pilot was to test and refine Materra’s technology to grow extra long staple cotton at a pilot farm, as historically this variety of cotton has not been grown in large volumes in this region due to specific climatic requirements for cultivation.

The aim of the Full Circle Textiles Project – Polyester (FCTP-P) is to validate and scale promising technologies in polyester chemical recycling and to encourage financing and offtake commitments in the fashion industry. The project builds on the framework and lessons of the Full Circle Textiles Project – Cellulosics (FCTP-C), which focused on investigating economically viable and scalable solutions for cellulosic chemical recycling. It brings together a consortium of stakeholders including brands, innovators, supply chain partners and catalytic funders – a structure that has proven successful in driving and scaling disruptive innovation in the industry. This is an ongoing project.

Fashion for Good launched D(R)YE Factory of the Future in January 2022 in collaboration with brand partners Kering, adidas, PVH Corp. and manufacturing partners Arvind Limited and Welspun India with the aim of validating the most promising technology combinations in pretreatment and colouration processing steps to support the widespread adoption of mostly waterless innovations within the textile industry.