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TOP STORY

Going Circular / India Market

16 March 2026

8 minutes

India Wants to Lead Circular Fashion but the Infrastructure Isn't Ready

India's textile recycling opportunity is real, but reaching it requires more than market projections — it demands a fundamental rethinking of how waste moves through an enormous, fragmented industrial system.

The economic case for textile recycling in India is no longer speculative. With a market projected to reach $3.5 billion by 2030 and the potential to create nearly one lakh green jobs, discarded fabric is increasingly being treated as recoverable capital. But a new government-commissioned report reveals that the systems required to actually capture that value remain underdeveloped, informal, and unevenly distributed across the country.

Subir Ghosh

Report

Latest: Updates

Country Overview / Australia Roadmap

TCF manufacturing employs more than 27,000 Australians and pays over $1.4 billion in wages annually within a broader $28 billion fashion and textile industry employing nearly 500,000 people.

Australian Fashion Council and RM Williams Launch 10-Year Roadmap to Strengthen Textile, Clothing and Footwear Production

Staff Writer

16 March 2026

Decarbonisation / AII Benchmark

Lack of Clear Energy Performance Standards Slows Fashion Decarbonisation, New Industry Benchmark Framework Indicates

Staff Writer

13 March 2026

How the Central Java Agreement Is Rewriting Rules on Workplace Safety in Garment Supply Chains

Subir Ghosh

11 March 2026

Denim Markets / India Growth Commentary

India’s denim sector reflects the transformation of a once domestic manufacturing base into a globally integrated production ecosystem supplying fabric and garments to international fashion markets.

Beyond the Blue Thread: India’s Expanding Footprint in the Global Denim Economy

Suketu Shah

10 March 2026

Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics – Spring Edition

CIRCULARITY / RECYCLING / SECONDS / WASTE

The Accelerator installation is intended to serve as a testing platform as Worn Again Technologies prepares for commercial-scale recycling operations.

Worn Again Launches Textile to Fibre Accelerator Plant to Scale Polycotton Recycling and Demonstrate Industrial Viability

Worn Again Technologies has unveiled a Textile to Fibre Accelerator plant in Winterthur, Switzerland, marking a major step toward commercialising its chemical recycling process for polycotton textiles. The facility demonstrates recovery of polyester and cellulose from end-of-life garments and enables industrial-scale testing as the company advances toward planned commercial textile recycling production.

Staff Writer 9 March 2026

Recycling at industrial scale carries environmental costs that certification frameworks do not always reach—particularly when residue management remains informal and largely invisible to regulators.

Panipat Recycles the World's Clothes but Not Its Pollution, Contends Ground Report

Richa Bansal

Report

5 March 2026

Informal employment and thin profit margins heighten vulnerability to unsafe conditions, wage insecurity and labour exploitation across collection and sorting activities.

Informal Recycling Work Heightens Exposure to Labour and Environmental Harm Across Value Chains, OECD Analysis Finds

Staff Writer

17 February 2026

Global trade in secondhand clothing has expanded sharply over three decades, exposing weaknesses in customs classification and raising new questions about how reuse and waste are distinguished at the border.

Secondhand Clothing Boom Now Faces a Regulatory Reckoning, Sorting Standards Needed

Subir Ghosh

Commentary

16 February 2026

Europe’s clothing collection systems are under strain as textile waste volumes continue to rise while reuse rates remain low, exposing the limits of manual sorting and donation-based models.

Finland-Led Project Tests Deposit-Return Machines That Sort Used Clothing for Resale and Recycling

Staff Writer

11 February 2026

FLASHPOINT: CLIMATE

China Trends / Growth Story

Urban households generated substantially higher carbon emissions than rural households due to significantly higher clothing consumption levels.

Household Demand and Exports Drove Most of China’s Textile Emissions Growth, New Sector Analysis Finds

Staff Writer

Update

3 March 2026

China’s textile and apparel industry emissions were driven largely by household consumption and exports between 2000 and 2018, according to new modelling research. The study found that integrating renewable energy adoption with expanded clothing recycling could curb long-term emissions growth across interconnected supply chains while supporting continued industrial development.

Climate Action / Decarbonisation Costs

Climate exposure in apparel is increasingly expressed in margins and capital flows rather than abstract sustainability metrics or voluntary disclosures.

Fashion’s Growth Model Faces a Structural Climate Stress Test

Subir Ghosh

Interview

23 February 2026

Climate risk is increasingly being modelled not as a reputational concern but as a margin-level financial exposure. New analysis suggests operating profits in apparel could shrink sharply under accelerated net-zero transitions. Kristina Elinder Liljas, Senior Director of Sustainable Finance and Engagement at Apparel Impact Institute, argues that carbon exposure now belongs inside capital allocation models, not sustainability reports.

COLUMNS

Suketu Shah

Beyond the Blue Thread: India’s Expanding Footprint in the Global Denim Economy

Subir Ghosh

Fashion Industry's Climate Reporting Has Outrun Its Actual Emissions Progress

Vasan Suri

IILF 2026 Exposes Gap Between Boardroom Sustainability and Tannery Floor Reality

KD Sharma

From Fibre Innovation to System Readiness: What It Really Takes to Scale Sustainable Materials

EXCLUSIVES

Consumer complaints in Denmark prompted scrutiny of how fashion companies frame sustainability in marketing and public communication.

First Person: How a Danish Researcher Forced Fashion to Confront Its Greenwashing Compulsion

Subir Ghosh

Interview

6 November 2025

The 3rd Saudi Fashiontex Expo in Jeddah reflected the Kingdom’s growing ambitions to position itself as a serious regional hub for fashion, textiles, and creative innovation.

Saudi Arabia’s Growing Fashion Ecosystem Anchors a Sustainable Industry Future

Subir Ghosh

Interview

17 October 2025

The 2025 Cotton Rankings highlight the widening gap between sustainability claims and real sourcing practices, with only 17 brands sourcing more than half of their cotton from certified suppliers.

Cotton Supply Chain Faces Crisis as Farmers Get Marginalised and Certification Loses Impact

Subir Ghosh

Interview

23 September 2025

Introducing new high-value crops brings strong agronomic and environmental benefits for farmers, creating opportunities that extend across marginalised communes and less-resourced agricultural communities.

Europe’s Bioeconomy at a Crossroads as Valbiom Pushes for Scalable Hemp and Bio-Based Materials

Subir Ghosh

Interview

17 September 2025

FOCUS: COTTON

The study used purified cotton pulp produced from recycled textile waste and compared it with conventional virgin wood pulp used in industrial viscose production.

Recycled Cotton Waste Could Replace Wood Pulp in Viscose Production, Study Examines Feasibility of Fibre-to-Fibre Route

New research is examining whether recycled cotton fibres can replace wood-based pulp used in viscose manufacturing. By comparing cotton waste pulp with conventional wood feedstock during early stages of the viscose process, the study explores whether textile waste could become a viable raw material for producing regenerated cellulosic fibres within existing industrial systems.

Staff Writer 11 March 2026

The Sediment Record That Challenges a Century of Green Assumptions on Natural Fibres

Special Correspondent

Report

9 March 2026

The updated GOTS framework will be implemented through a defined transition period before becoming mandatory for certified entities.

GOTS Version 8.0 Introduces Stronger Due Diligence, Governance and Chemical Controls Across Organic Textile Supply Chains

Staff Writer

9 March 2026

The gap between what a garment label declares and what its fibres can confirm has widened for years, outpacing the regulatory frameworks designed to close it.

End of Green Claims in Sight: Fashion Has Been Telling Stories That Science Can Now Fact-Check

Subir Ghosh

Feature

3 March 2026

The rise in imports reflects short-term domestic supply constraints and competitive global prices, particularly for higher staple-length cotton.

‘MSP Isn’t Distorting Prices’: CCI Head on Imports, Yields, and the Road to Cotton Stability

Richa Bansal

Interview

28 November 2025

SPOTLIGHT ARTICLES: MOST READ

Kenya’s mitumba markets form a vital reuse network where millions depend on the trade of secondhand clothing, turning global textile surplus into livelihoods and affordable apparel.

UNEP’s Textile Waste Guidelines Draw Scrutiny from Kenya’s Secondhand Clothing Sector

Subir Ghosh

Interview

11 November 2025

The global dispute over textile “waste” definitions underscores how policy language can reshape markets, influence livelihoods, and determine who benefits from the growing circular economy.

Global Textile Waste Definitions Expose Deep Faultlines in Circularity Governance

Subir Ghosh

Interview

12 November 2025

Farmer cooperatives and private producers are strengthening collaboration to improve cotton quality, consistency, and supply reliability across key production zones.

How Ethiopia Aims to Transform Its Cotton Heritage into Global Competitiveness

Subir Ghosh

Interview

27 October 2025

Industrial zones are transforming nearby communities, bringing new consumer desires and widening the gap between rural and urban life.

The Human Story Inside Ethiopia’s Textile Parks: Survival, Change and Hope

Subir Ghosh

Interview

30 October 2025

SPOTLIGHT EDITIONS: SELECT 4

New Trade Disorder 7 Apr 2025

Welcome to a New World Trade Order. US President Donald Trump has walked his talk — the promise made during his election campaigns. Trade pundits failed to read the obvious, failed to prepare for what should have been expected and the reeling from the ‘shock and awe’ is as chaotic as it was during Covid. From a baseline 10% to a steep hike going up to as much as 49% (Cambodia and Lesotho), the tiz in the supply chains will continue to roil as the textile-fashion-footwear industry recalibrates to the new ch

Trump Tariffs and the Global Textiles & Fashion Industry

Cotton for Good 2024 7 Oct 2024

One Crop, One Fibre, Many Stories

The Blue Streak 25 Nov 2024

Designing Denim the Fashionable and Sustainable Way

Recycling Crisis 2 Jun 2025

The Recycling Crisis: Industry Barriers and Solutions

Highlights: Sea Change

Plastic pollution kills over 1 million marine animals every year. The Seaqual transformation process reduces:37% CO2 emissions, 34% water consumption, and 40% energy use even as it empowers communities with better incomes and safer working conditions.

Why Collecting Ocean Waste Required Building Factories, Not Just Funding Beach Cleanups

Special Correspondent

Feature

24 November 2025

A shift towards on-demand production and transparency is challenging wasteful practices, placing accountability at the centre of textile creation and redefining how brands approach sustainability.

Byborre’s Radical Textile Model Merges Craft, Digital Innovation and Accountability

Subir Ghosh

Interview

6 October 2025

Beyond product creation, Makers Unite runs programmes that support newcomers in education, entrepreneurship and employment, helping them take the next step in their professional journeys.

How Storytelling and Repurposing Can Drive Systemic Change in Global Fashion

Subir Ghosh

Interview

2 September 2025

This visualises the process flow: Starting with textile waste, CircularFabrics recovers nylon in the form of powder from the textile matrix. The powder is then transformed into pellets which can be used to spin yarns, for example. .

How CircularFabrics is Redefining Nylon Recycling Through Low-Impact Chemistry

Subir Ghosh

Interview

30 June 2025

"Quote Unquote"

Kristina Elinder Lilja

Senior Director, Sustainable Finance and Engagement

Apparel Impact Institute

Carbon pricing would be the most structurally embedded risk and hardest to reverse. Carbon pricing is different as it sits directly on Scope 3, where 96–99% of apparel emissions occur. That means it’s embedded in Tier 2 manufacturing and upstream energy systems. Unless those systems decarbonise, cost exposure compounds year over year.

MORE: Fashion’s Growth Model Faces a Structural Climate Stress Test

"Quote Unquote"

Ripple Patel

Managing Director

Fiotex Cotspin Pvt Ltd

Cotton is a cash crop and has always given better profitability compared to others like peanuts. Before 2002, we had local varieties like Shankar-6. Yields were low, but returns were higher than other crops. In 2002–03, when BT cotton was introduced, it doubled yields from 250–300 kg per hectare to about 500 kg. Costs rose only 20–30%. Farmers prospered in those years.

MORE: Frayed Futures: India’s Cotton Crop Unspooling Fast

FOCUS: LEATHER

The fair's expansion into newly constructed exhibition halls at Chennai Trade Centre failed to address fundamental organisational issues, with similar product categories scattered across disparate locations forcing extended navigation.

IILF 2026 Exposes Gap Between Boardroom Sustainability and Tannery Floor Reality

Chennai's IILF 2026 exposed contradictions shaping India's leather industry: innovative chemical systems alongside organisational failures, Trump tariffs suppressing demand yet prices holding firm, and sustainability frameworks that never reach tannery workers. The 'Leather Carnival' demonstrated both the sector's professionalisation and its struggle to reconcile traditional identity with market realities.

Vasan Suri 11 February 2026