Executive attention to sustainability has declined as companies focus more closely on margins, budgets and investment returns. At the same time, climate change is affecting supply chains, raw material prices remain volatile, and regulations relating to textile waste and circularity are becoming more stringent. Consequently, sustainability is increasingly being viewed as a financial and strategic issue rather than solely an environmental one.

Textile-to-textile recycling can provide three main business benefits, namely: creating new revenue opportunities through circular products; reducing exposure to supply chain risks; and helping companies to comply with emerging regulations. However, the business case remains challenging because recycled fibres are generally more expensive than virgin alternatives and the infrastructure needed to collect, sort and process textile waste is still developing.

Less than 1% of global fibre production comes from recycled pre-consumer and post-consumer textiles. Most recycled fibre is derived from other sources, particularly plastic bottles. Furthermore, only around 11% of post-consumer textile waste was collected and sorted into streams suitable for recycling last year. This limits the availability of suitable feedstock for textile-to-textile recycling.

Nevertheless, technological developments in textile-to-textile recycling are continuing. Chemical recycling offers the potential to produce fibres with properties comparable with those of virgin materials. Several companies—including Ambercycle, Circ, Circulose and Syre—are developing and scaling technologies for textile-to-textile recycling. However, high investment costs, limited feedstock availability, infrastructure requirements and energy use remain significant challenges.

Furthermore, the cost gap between recycled and virgin fibres is substantial. Recycled polyester is estimated to cost 2.6 times more than virgin polyester. In Europe, an estimated Euro8 bn-11 bn (US$9.2 bn-12.7 bn) of capital expenditure and Euro5 bn-6.5 bn of annual operating expenditure would be required to achieve a 15% textile-to-textile recycling rate by 2035.

Therefore, policy will play an important role in making textile-to-textile recycling commercially viable. The EU’s Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) and extended producer responsibility (EPR) requirements are expected to increase pressure on companies to consider the end-of-life impacts of their products. Under the existing timetable, national textile EPR schemes should be operational by April 2028 and several countries have already implemented such schemes.

At the same time, companies can help to reduce investment risk by providing greater certainty regarding future demand. In particular, offtake agreements and collaborative purchasing arrangements would give recycling companies the confidence to invest in new capacity while helping brands to secure supplies of recycled fibres.

For these reasons, the business case for textile-to-textile recycling is becoming clearer but commercial scale will depend on more than technological progress. Greater investment, reliable supplies of suitable feedstock, stronger demand for recycled fibres and supportive policy measures will all be needed to help close the gap between technological potential and commercial reality.