Circular Fashion News / July 8: Material innovation, EU Textile recycling crisis, Fashion Impact Toolkit
Last week: material innovations featured in brand collabs, Global Fashion Agenda launched the Fashion Impact Toolkit, and the EU’s textile recycling crisis resurfaced as Texaid filed for insolvency.
Welcome to reading a weekly recap of circular fashion news! Some of last week’s highlights in the circular fashion industry included:
Global Fashion Agenda revealed the Fashion Impact Toolkit for identifying and managing sustainability impacts
EURATEX & Danish Fashion and Textiles called for a harmonised and coherent EU policy framework
Wyse London launched a secondhand store with branded resale provider Continue
Sourcing Journal published its Material Innovations Report 2025
Biobased dyeing solution, Ever Dye, raised €15 million in funding
&Other Stories launched two garments made partly from Kelsun seaweed fibre
Germany's largest textile recycling company, Texaid, filed for insolvency
Mango partnered with and invested in a textile-to-textile recycling solution The Post Fiber
GFA Fashion Impact Toolkit: Identifying and managing sustainability impacts
Global Fashion Agenda and Deloitte released the 'Fashion Impact Toolkit' to help businesses identify and manage sustainability impacts across the textile value chain. The resource offers an interactive tool for companies to identify key sustainability concerns and improve decision-making.
In addition to mapping the sustainability impacts of linear supply chain activities, the resource also maps the impact of circular activities, such as resale, repair, remaking, and recycling: highlighting for example the impact of rebound effects (e.g. resale increasing overconsumption), environmental impact of reverse logistics, as well as the high use of energy in textile recycling and possible pollution of water during the processes.
EURATEX & Danish Fashion and Textiles called for a harmonised and coherent EU policy framework
EURATEX and Danish Fashion and Textiles issued a joint statement calling on the Danish EU Presidency to ensure a coherent approach in upcoming legislation affecting the textile sector. The statement highlights a need for alignment across initiatives such as the Waste Framework Directive (including Extended Producer Responsibility schemes) and the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation.
The statement criticises the EU for creating uncertainty for European industry and anxiety among consumers. This, they argue, is leading to reduced demand for textiles and garments, and discouraging entrepreneurs from making new investments. The organisations urge the Danish Presidency to help restore confidence by setting clear timelines and a regulatory pathway to support business and investment planning.
Wyse London launched a secondhand store with a branded resale provider Continue
UK-based women’s clothing brand Wyse London has launched a secondhand store in partnership with branded resale provider Continue.
The store operates as a peer-to-peer marketplace but offers sellers a more streamlined listing process and buyers a more trustworthy shopping experience. Listings are linked to original purchases, giving customers visibility into verified product history. When submitting an item for sale, the platform retrieves product information and images and provides pricing recommendations, making it easier for sellers to create listings.
Material Innovations Report 2025: Industry moves towards commercialization, but brand support stalls
The Material Innovations Report 2025 by Sourcing Journal highlights that there is plenty of optimism in the material innovations space: biomaterial startups raised $392 million in funding during the first quarter of 2025.
After multiple years of continuous piloting, now the space is starting to see a shift from pilots to commercial scale. Some of the next-gen materials (e.g. alternative leathers, bio-based fibers) and textile-to-textile recycling technologies are finally moving beyond proof-of-concept and toward commercialization.
However, the report highlights that many material innovation startups report that brands express interest in sustainable materials but fail to follow through with meaningful adoption or scalable partnerships.
Bio-based dyeing solution, Ever Dye, raised €15 million
French bio-based textile dyeing company Ever Dye has raised €15 million to scale up its operations. The company has developed a bio-based dyeing process that can be integrated into existing dyeing infrastructure. Three years into development, its dyes are currently used by brands such as Lacoste and Adore Me.
&Other Stories launched two garments made partly from Kelsun seaweed-derived fiber
H&M Group's brand, &Other Stories, has launched two garments made using Kelsun seaweed-derived fiber from Keel Labs. The products are made from 30% Kelsun fiber and 70% cotton.
Why is this news highlighted? This piece of news is not to highlight &Other Stories as a sustainable company for using next-gen materials but to bring understanding in the commercialization of next-gen seaweed fibers.
The reason why these two products include only 30% Kelsun seaweed fiber may be due to financial restrictions or the quality of the fiber (this was not specified by &Other Stories).
Mango partners with and invests in a textile-to-textile recycling solution 'The Post Fiber'
Mango has invested in The Post Fiber, a start-up dedicated to the management and recycling of post-consumer textile waste. The investment is channeled through Mango StartUp Studio, the company's fashion start-up accelerator.
In addition, Mango has used a small share of The Post Fiber’s recycled fibers in one of its collections. The collection includes 10 products, most of which are made with 80% recycled material, of which 15% is sourced from The Post Fiber.
Germany's largest textile recycling company, Texaid, filed for insolvency
Texaid Beteiligungsverwaltung Deutschland has announced that its subsidiaries, Resales Textilhandels und Recycling GmbH and Texaid Collection GmbH, have entered formal insolvency proceedings. Both companies will continue operations during this process, and other Texaid group subsidiaries in Germany and Switzerland are not affected.
This piece of news follows a spring of warnings about the growing crisis in Europe’s textile recycling sector. Several industry players have raised concerns about the serious challenges facing textile sorting and collection, with some warning of a possible collapse of the infrastructure. Last October, another major German textile sorter, Soex, filed for insolvency and later closed its sorting facility in Germany.
Zalando launched two garments made with Circ® Lyocell
A textile-to-textile recycling company, Circ, has announced a brand collaboration with Zalando and revealed two garments made with Circ® Lyocell, which are composed of 40% recycled textile waste.
Why is this news highlighted? This piece of news is not to highlight Zalando as a sustainable company for using recycled materials but to demonstrate the state of commercialization of Circ's material and its ability to match the quality and performance of virgin fibers, as well as giving a broader understanding of where the product development of textile-to-textile recycled fibers is.
The reason why the Circ Lyocell fabric only includes 40% recycled content may be due to financial restrictions or the quality of the fiber (this was not specified in Circ's press release). In the past, Circ® Lyocell has been used for example by Zara, where 50% of the material was from recycled origin.
This is a weekly spot for interesting things I’ve stumbled upon recently. The section includes everything from upcycled fashion brands and vintage platforms to deep-dive reads and podcasts.
Article: Closing the loop on resale’s profitability problem
This article from Vogue Business looks at revised approaches to resale that would get especially fashion brands to enter the fashion resale space. The article looks at for example communicating the resale value of a product upon purchase, highlighting a resale-as-a-service provider Brandback operating in this way.
Article: Why fast-fashion is harming second-hand – and what we can do about it
An article by Karina Bolin (Circular Textiles Director, Global North, at Humana People to People) examines how growing sales of fast and ultra-fast fashion affect the secondhand market. It explores regulatory measures to improve conditions for the resale industry and highlights the state of resale across different regions.
Resource: Fashion Rental Report Q1/Q2 2025
Last week, a report on the state of fashion rental for Q1 and Q2 of 2025 was released in Circular Fashion News. The report looks at the major news from the first two quarters, the market of fashion rental, and the different players in the market.
Resource: Bencha Resale Report 2025
Bencha, a data platform for the secondhand market, has released a comprehensive report on the state of the fashion resale market. The report is based on Bencha's comprehensive data of over 500 million products across more than 500,000 brands and includes data, for example, on global adoption of secondhand, category performance, and best-performing brands.
That is all for now, let’s hear again next week! In the meantime, let’s continue the discussion in the comments, LinkedIn, or Instagram <3
xx Tiina