It ain't fashion, if it ain't sustainable
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TOP STORY
California Act / USAgain View / PART II

18 March 2026

 7 minutes

California’s Textile EPR Ambition Hinges on Infrastructure and Local Regulation

Textile recovery debates increasingly revolve around infrastructure rather than technology, highlighting how logistics, regulation and market access shape the circular economy’s real operating limits.

Textile waste in the United States remains largely invisible within municipal systems, even as millions of tonnes of clothing are discarded every year. Mattias Wallander, CEO of USAgain, argues that the challenge is not technological but structural, rooted in fragmented local regulation, constrained collection networks and the economics of scaling recovery infrastructure.

  • Subir Ghosh
 Interview
Latest: Updates
Other Top Stories
California Act / EPR Study / I Analysis
The distance between a garment's point of sale and its eventual disposal has, until now, been a space entirely free of producer obligation—a gap this legislation formally closes.

California Made Producers Responsible; Now Someone Has to Make It Work

  • Subir Ghosh

17 March 2026
Going Circular / India Market Report
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.

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

  • Subir Ghosh

16 March 2026
 
Morocco Fashion Tex 2026
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
 
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.

 
Saudi Fashion Tex 2026
COLUMNS
 
EXCLUSIVES
 
FOCUS: COTTON
Microscopic analysis of mulberry silk fibres indicates that their distinctive performance characteristics stem from a unique natural architecture combining triangular cross-sections and smooth protein surfaces.

Mulberry Silk’s Triangular Fibre Structure Produces Its Signature Soft Lustre and Optical Glow, Scientific Report Shows

A scientific report has examined the microscopic structure and physicochemical properties of mulberry silk, explaining why the fibre displays distinctive lustre, smoothness and skin compatibility. Using microscopy and biomedical research, the analysis describes how silk’s natural microstructure influences optical reflection, friction behaviour, moisture absorption and potential applications in textiles, beauty and biomedical materials.

Staff Writer
 
 
SPOTLIGHT ARTICLES: MOST READ
 
SPOTLIGHT EDITIONS: SELECT 4
Cotton for Good 2024 7 Oct 2024
One Crop, One Fibre, Many Stories
 
 

Highlights: Sea Change

"Quote Unquote"

Mattias Wallander
Mattias Wallander
Chief Executive Officer
USAgain
The real hurdle isn't the map, but the fragmented municipal governance: complex, varying permit costs and restrictive zoning are barriers to expansion. If local governments can align on model ordinances and move away from restrictive industrial-only zoning, the 13% yearover- year growth seen in France may be possible in California.
MORE: California’s Textile EPR Ambition Hinges on Infrastructure and Local Regulation

"Quote Unquote"

Ripple Patel
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
Lineapelle 2025 demonstrated that the industry is ready to communicate in a different way. The collaboration between UNIC, Lineapelle, La Conceria, Is It Leather?, and voices like Volkan’s marks the beginning of a more open, consumer-connected era. But collaboration must extend to influencers, educators, and storytellers, people who can speak the language of the next generation of consumers.

The Power of Storytelling, Community and Leather’s Next Chapter

  • Blake Garavaglia
 Commentary

14 October 2025
 
 
ATTENTION: DENIM
 
COMPANY NEWS / PRESS RELEASES
 
Young India Fashion Survey 2025