Image: Recover/C&A


as a scale-ready solution for years, but the industry has been working from fragmented data and siloed testing,” said Katrin Ley, Managing Director at Fashion for Good. “This project is about closing that gap with hard evidence. By plotting real recycler capabilities against real brand quality targets, and by co-developing the opera- tional standards to support them, we can move recycled cotton from a case-by-case experiment to a category the industry can actually plan around.”


performance is required. The project is designed to discover the actual capabilities and trade-offs of recycled fibres today. By providing transpar- ent performance data, quality augmenta- tion pathways and practical decision-mak- ing tools, Fashion for Good says the project will answer questions raised by brands and create a clear path to commercial adoption.


Recyclers’ capabilities The Cotton Reloop Matrix project has two parallel tracks. In the first, Fashion for Good will map what recyclers can produce today against what brands need, across knit and woven categories. This work will result in a Quality Matrix to show, at a glance, where recycled cotton is ready for commercial use and where targeted innovation can extend its reach.


In the second parallel work program,


selected recyclers will be physically validated through ten demonstrator fabrics and five quality augmentation trials, generating a Trade-off Analysis that shows how recycled content, price and quality are linked. Best practices from these trials will be captured in a universal, open-source spinning Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), designed to support consistent manufacturing across global supply chains. The project will also produce a Roadmap


for Cotton Circularity, an industry-facing report setting out the data infrastructure needed to scale recycled cotton adoption across product categories and regions. “Recycled cotton has been talked about


Textiles Loop • Autumn 2026 25


The goals of the Cotton Reloop Matrix Project l Align realistic brand quality targets with current recycled cotton capabilities across knit and woven categories to clarify price, performance, and recycled content trade-offs. l Develop a detailed overview of commer- cially viable solutions, encompassing integrated mechanical recycling technolo- gies and pathways for quality augmentation. l Conduct due diligence on integrated recycling technologies and quality augmen- tation pathways across established players and innovators. l Develop an interactive decision-making tool and a universal operational guide (SOP) designed to support consistent manufacturing across global supply chains. l Produce ten demonstrator fabrics and test five high-potential quality augmenta- tion pathways in real-world mill conditions to physically validate performance and processing methods. •www.fashionforgood.com


Recover reveals


enablers of scale Producing cotton yarns with recycled fibre content at scale and at the right quality is achievable. It is already being demonstrated by Recover, the Spain- headquartered group which has access to recycling feedstock globally and has recycling hubs in Spain, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam and El Salvador. “Our fibre was in more than 200


million garments last year,” said Recover’s Chief Commercial Officer, Matthew Neville, when he presented during the conference at the Textiles Recycling Expo in Brussels in June. By various measures, Recover is now at scale: annual fibre production capacity is 84,300 tonnes, it has 150 active customers globally, plus 140+ spinning partners, and the group employs nearly 300 people. Neville presented Recover’s five


enablers of scale at the conference: customer commitment, product quality and consistency at scale, service network, traceability and transparency, and supply chain partnerships. He said the group has decades of


experience producing high-quality recycled cotton fibre with consistent long fibre content, minimal unshredded material, and applications for ring spinning and open-end. Its work with the supply chain goes from fibre to blended yarn, fabric and garments. • https://recoverfiber.com


Recover’s brand


partnerships include working with C&A. Image: Recover/C&A


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