Houston, we have a clothing problem. We’re buying more apparel that is cheaply-made, wearing it for shorter periods of time and disposing of it at an alarming rate. In just the last 25 years, clothing sales have more than doubled, but the number of times an item of clothing is worn has decreased by about 36%, according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Roughly 85% of all textiles produced are currently ending up in landfills.

There is a cog in our circular system and it stems from waste collection and sortation. In order to get feedstock for textile-to-textile recycling, we need garment preprocessing – sorting garments by fiber type, evaluating them for recyclability and removing trims (buttons, zippers). Currently there is almost no infrastructure for this task. What little pre-processing that does exist is done by hand, which is expensive and unable to process the volumes needed to make a dent in an enormous apparel waste issue. Recyclers want to pay as little as possible for their feedstock so it’s very hard for garment processors to make a profit.

To build the network, establish laws and bring forth the economic funds to make this succeed – to handle millions and millions of tons of textile and garment waste – will be a feat, but it is possible. The equipment to identify fibers does exist and AI could help, but efforts need to scaled up dramatically beyond existing pilot programs.

Current Landscape

Right now, apparel recycling starts with collectors (like Goodwill, who recovered 4.3 billion pounds of used goods in 2024) that take donations. They sort through the clothing manually, pick out what has the highest resale value to sell in stores and the remainder is sold to people who make industrial rags or to secondary markets in third world countries. A very small percentage of clothing becomes feedstock. Currently what companies are willing to pay for the feedstock versus what it costs to prepare the feedstock do not align, so there is no real push to set up garment preprocessing facilities.

In October 2024, Goodwill and textile-to-textile regeneration company Reju announced that, with WM (formerly Waste Management), they would align to pursue a way of advancing textile recycling in the U.S. The plan is to develop “a collaborative model for regional textile collection, sortation, reuse and recycling that will divert more nonwearable textile materials from the waste stream,” according to the release.

“As an expert in collections, sorting and logistics, WM plans to collect and sort textiles, primarily from businesses. Once these materials are sorted, the intention is that Goodwill will grade and resell viable apparel, Reju will purchase textiles it can recycle with its technology and WM will manage the remaining materials with other fiber recyclers and end markets,” according to Raymond Randall, textiles senior manager, WM. The collaboration will potentially streamline the flow of materials throughout the supply chain, helping to reduce waste.

Goodwill will work with WM on pilots to collect, sort and grade discarded textiles for resale. “As textile recyclers scale up, we are building the capabilities to sort materials by fiber type to meet recyclers’ specifications. Scaling this work will require advanced sortation technology which requires significant investment,” explained Brittany Dickinson, director of sustainability at Goodwill Industries International.

A portion of the remaining textiles, determined by Goodwill as not suitable for resale, are expected to be provided to textile regeneration company Reju. This supply of feedstock will potentially be recycled and regenerated into new materials at Reju’s U.S.-based facility, to be announced imminently. Reju is developing the infrastructure (there is already a regeneration hub in Frankfurt, Germany) to take textile waste including polyester and regenerate it to scale. Reju Polyester is expected to have a 50% lower carbon footprint than virgin polyester.

Reju CEO Patrik Frisk believes that brands – and ultimately consumers – will be willing to pay the higher price for Reju Polyester (like they have for recycled polyester and organic cotton), but first an entire system needs to be put in place.

“We are building regen hubs that will take in about 60,000 tons of waste. To get what we need, we would need to sort through about 250,000 tons. You can’t do that by hand. The equipment needed to do this work exists, but after we take what we need, what do you do with the rest of it?” contemplated Frisk.

To create Naia Renew, Eastman draws upon post-consumer carpets and other hard-to-recycle materials that mechanical recycling cannot process as its feedstock. “Eastman’s patented molecular recycling technologies allow us to focus on being a solution provider for those waste streams that today do not have a sustainable end-of-life solution and would otherwise end up in landfills,” commented Claudia de Witte, head of sustainability, textiles at Eastman.

The Eastman carbon renewal technology processes hard-to-recycle waste materials by breaking them down into molecular building blocks to create acetic acid to be used as feedstock in cellulose acetate production. Naia Renew staple fibers and filament yarn are composed of 60% sustainably sourced wood pulp and 40% GRS-certified recycled waste materials via mass.  

Circular Polymers reclaims polyester carpet from homes and businesses at the company’s reclamation facility in Lincoln, California; then process and prep it for transport by rail to Eastman’s Kingsport, Tennessee manufacturing site for chemical recycling. “Carpet pulled from houses and commercial buildings is a particularly problematic landfill item because transport is not easy – carpet is heavy and bulky – and there is a lot of it,” the exec noted.

Eastman is also working with sortation firm Debrand for feedstock. In the pilot that was announced last April, Eastman tapped Debrand for its waste collection capabilities, ultimately aiming to recycle 5,000 pounds of pre-and post-consumer apparel waste.

Legal Ramifications

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) will be a large piece of the puzzle in addressing textile waste. It places the responsibility for end-of-life product management on producers, incentivizing designing for recyclability. California’s Responsible Textile Recovery Act holds the apparel and textile industry responsible for making sure their products get collected, repaired, reused, and recycled. The Act became effective on January 1, 2025.

EPR laws put a value on waste so if firms make things that are easier to recycle, their fees are less. But will these rates be high enough to incentivize companies?

According to the EU Waste Framework Directive, all European member states are required to establish separate collection systems for used textiles by January 1, 2025. Textile waste must be collected separately from other waste streams, with the goal of reusing and recycling more textiles. This also includes implementing an EPR directive where textile producers are held accountable for the end-of-life, covering the costs of collection, sorting, and recycling.

One company attempting to tackle the issue in Europe is Germany’s CuRe, which specializes in polyester rejuvenation. The firm handles both plastics and textiles, so they are skilled in being able to obtain the materials needed (bottles, carpets, packaging) to attempt to both meet regulation expectations and provide necessary feedstock. Currently 91% of used polyester cannot be recycled due to coloring and contamination.

Bottom Line for Suppliers and Brands

All of this begs the question, if the vast majority of our clothing is going to landfills, does it make sense for brands to design garments with organic and recycled fibers?

At YKK, Senior Manager of Sustainability, Brian La Plante, has been getting brand requests for mono-material zippers. Such zippers are designed to be processed in either nylon or polyester recycling systems. The firm offers a Nylon Vislon zipper and a PET coil zipper. “Depending on the item, they are not necessarily a 100% mono-material zipper. For example, on our NATULON Plus PET with recycled PET open parts we use a metal slider instead of PET due to durability reasons,” the exec commented.

Unless a brand has its own closed-loop system or circular system where they are manually pre-processing items (see sidebar: The North Face), removing these zippers for reuse is not really happening. La Plante is currently working with companies that develop the processing equipment for garment sorting and de-trimming to create identification systems that would identify certain zippers as recyclable.

When it comes to collecting and sorting in the U.S., “we are in the dark ages,” said La Plante.  

There is a need to create financial incentives around recycling. “No one is talking about the economics, but that’s really the big issue to address,” the exec noted.

The outcome will always be that the goods coming out of this process will be more expensive than virgin materials. It’s a difficult economic proposal that will come down to how much value the apparel industry puts on saving the planet.

How are Textiles Currently Recycled?

According to SMART (Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles Association) 95% of all used clothing is recyclable, with 5% is unusable due to mildew or other contamination. SMART represents small and medium-sized companies dedicated to the recycling of pre-and post-consumer textiles. Many of its members operate collection bins to gather used textiles, which are transformed into products like wiping cloths, insulation and clothing exported to developing countries.  As education for its members, the recycling process is described as such:

Collectors take used clothing and other household textiles from the general public, plus industrial laundries, healthcare institutions, hotels and clothing manufacturers.

Collectors bale and sell these garments/textiles in their current condition to graders. Graders sort the items (assigning each a grade) and re-sell that product.

Processors sort, grade and reprocess used clothing during the recycling process. At sorting facilities, items are then made into large bales to be re-sold, mostly overseas.

Textile processors also collect items from
industrial laundries that are deemed to be unfit to be used by the laundry’s clients. They are made into wiping cloths.

Processors sort, grade and reprocess used clothing during the recycling process. At sorting facilities, items are then made into large bales to be re-sold, mostly overseas.

Some companies re-process used clothing back into their original fiber. They create blends of fiber that are sold in bales to companies that make new products like home insulation or stuffing for furniture.

Distributors (or brokers) facilitate the transactions between collector companies, grader companies and buyers. The clients of brokers are often in developing countries.

‍The North Face Designs for Circularity

Renewed is the second-hand resale platform for The North Face. Renewed products are inspected, cleaned and repaired so that every garment meets the brand’s refurbished standards. Renewed Trade-In was launched last year, allowing customers to mail in or drop their unwanted The North Face items off in its stores for credit. Since implementation, its partner Tersus cleaned more than 120,000 units of product and The North Face sold more than 75,000 units of product.

We chatted with The North Face execs Carol Shu, senior manager, global sustainability and Kellen Hennessy,  senior design manager, circularity about circularity efforts.

Why is a closed-loop system important and where are you in this process?

Shu: We push the boundaries of material technology and conduct rigorous testing on our fabrics to make sure we can back up our performance claims. When a customer doesn’t want their The North Face product anymore, if it’s still usable, we go through a rigorous eight-step process which includes six quality checks to ensure products in our Renewed collection continue to meet our standards for refurbished garments. If we receive a returned product that is worn out and unusable, the product may still have valuable resources, like the polyester fabric, that we can recover and get back into a textile supply chain.

What are the biggest challenges in building a circular system?

Shu: It takes time and partnership to develop systems and processes that will facilitate keeping our products in use while recovering raw materials. We feel the urgency to develop these systems, but also must make sure our products enable our customers to explore safely. While we do face challenges including the ease of recycling some fabrics, trims, etc., we’re working to incorporate principles of circularity into our initial product design process, which will streamline the recycling processes if these items are returned through Renewed Trade-In.

Talk to me about mono-materials. Are they important for you in your recycling efforts and what is your feeling on sacrificing durability for mono-material trims?

Hennessy: We work closely with our suppliers to develop mono-material trims and fabrics that meet our performance requirements. Ultimately, mono-materials are easier to recycle back into new products because they are made from a single source, so we aim to incorporate them into our initial design process assuming they meet all performance standard metrics.

How are you designing for circularity?

Hennessy: Our Circular Design products are built with disassembly and recyclability in mind while maintaining the durability and quality our customers expect from us. We’ve established a clear set of design guardrails for our design teams to select materials, trims, and feature sets to allow for streamlined disassembly and recycling at the end of the product’s usable life.