TOP STORY

Why Bangladesh Loses More Cotton Than Norway's Best Recycling System Can Ever Recover

The EU's mandatory separate textile collection requirement came into force in 2025, backed by recyclability targets for 2030. What the policy framework has not accounted for is that the larger share of fibre loss in a cotton garment occurs before any consumer touches it. A new study traces a single t-shirt across its full global supply chain to quantify where that loss actually goes.

Other Top Stories
 
CIRCULARITY / RECYCLING / SECONDS / WASTE

B2B Textile Waste Costs UK Organisations Millions as Circular Solutions Fail to Scale Beyond Pilots

B2B textiles across hospitality, healthcare, automotive, agriculture and construction represent a substantial and largely unmanaged source of cost, risk and lost material value in the UK. New research commissioned by Reconomy has found that circular solutions exist but consistently fail to scale, and that progress depends on earlier, more deliberate intervention at points where organisations already have control.

 
FLASHPOINT: CLIMATE
Material Innovation / Bezos Fund

Breakthrough textile materials have received $34 million in new Bezos Earth Fund grants, backing research into bacterial fibres, spider-silk-inspired biodegradable materials, coloured cotton and cotton seedbank restoration. The funding targets materials that can match rayon, silk and cotton while improving cost, performance and environmental outcomes across fashion and textile supply chains.

Climate Action / Ethiopia Project

Climate resilience, productivity and workplace safety are being advanced across Ethiopia's leather, textile and garment sector through a new ILO-Japan joint initiative. The one-year programme targets 40 factories across five cities, integrating Japanese expertise, digitalised safety tools and a women's leadership development programme to drive sustainable and inclusive industrial growth.

 
 
 
FOCUS: COTTON

Cotton Story: The Crop That Fuelled Empires and Slavery Finally Reveals Where It Started

For decades, scientists knew that upland cotton, the species behind around 90% of the world's natural textile fibre, was domesticated somewhere in the Americas, but could not say exactly where. A new genomic study has now provided the answer, tracing the crop's origins to the coastal scrublands of northwestern Yucatán, where farmers worked thousands of years before the Maya.

 
 
 
SPOTLIGHT EDITIONS: SELECT 4
 

"Quote Unquote"

Nelson Dias Suassuna
Nelson Dias Suassuna
Senior Researcher
Embrapa
For small-scale agriculture, the key differentiator will be adding value to the fibre or seed, or both, either through the production of higher value-added fibres (long/extra-long fibres, such as Peruvian Pima cotton or naturally coloured cotton in the semi-arid region of Brazil). But perhaps the most important factor for this second scenario is the organisation of producers into associations or cooperatives.

"Quote Unquote"

Manmohan Singh
Manmohan Singh
Chief Marketing Officer
Birla Cellulose
By creating a consistent, uniform blend at the fibre stage rather than the fabric stage. This engineering ensures smooth processing and retains the softness, strength, and premium hand-feel of traditional MMCFs, even with up to 50% recycled content.
 
 
FOCUS: LEATHER

AI Adoption in Footwear Has Tripled Since 2020, Reshaping Design, Production and Retail at Every Level

Artificial intelligence has moved from experimentation to operational use across footwear and leather goods, with adoption among OECD companies tripling between 2020 and 2025. The tenth Innovation Village Retail at Expo Riva Schuh and Gardabags in June 2026 brings together nearly 90 start-ups spanning 3D modelling, fit technology, mass customisation, digital product passports and returns reduction.