France

Hemp is emerging as a serious contender in Europe’s sustainable fibre narrative, yet its path to scale remains riddled with questions. Nathalie Revol, hemp project manager at Association Lin et Chanvre Bio, shares insights on land expansion, regulatory hurdles, and the realities of building market-ready textile fibres that can rival synthetics and achieve lasting credibility.

French researchers have developed a revolutionary approach to recycling mixed polyester waste from textiles and appliances. By combining controlled heating with smart mixing techniques, the method eliminates sorting requirements whilst achieving 90% recycling efficiency. The breakthrough could transform how the fashion industry handles synthetic textile waste streams.

A new European study by the Solstice project has exposed glaring inefficiencies in the continent’s textile sector. Analysing Berlin, Grenoble, Prato, and Catalonia, researchers found critical disparities in services, material flows, and consumer behaviour. The findings call for coordinated territorial approaches to shift the industry towards sustainable circular practices.

As circularity becomes central to the textile industry, French recycling innovator Cetia is streamlining disassembly and sorting through cutting-edge automation. Leading this transformation is Director Chloé Salmon Legagneur, whose team is developing intelligent systems that dismantle shoes, sort garments, and prepare materials for high-quality recycling—critical for scaling circular solutions across both footwear and fashion supply chains.

Pili has a mission—it produces decarbonised alternatives based on renewable resources for sustainable industrial applications. Pili President Jérémie Blache explains how Pili uses hybrid processes combining industrial fermentation and organic chemistry to manufacture sustainable, high-performance colour ranges for the textiles industry.

In a significant step ahead towards 100% textile circularity, French green innovation start-up, Carbios, and its five fibre-to-fibre consortium partners have come up with the world’s first enzymatically recycled polyester garment made from textile waste to spin out 100% biorecycled fibres.

A report by Ellen MacArthur Foundation outlines a shared direction of travel and the opportunity for Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) to create ambitious outcomes that accelerate the circular economy transition.

Recognised as a flagship start-up in French green innovation, the Carbios innovation enables recycling of all types of PET waste, including complex and soiled plastic, while producing recycled and recyclable PET products without compromising on quality. The Carbios ambition is to become a leading r-PET player by 2035. texfash.com talks to its CEO, Emmanuel Ladent, to know more.

Almost nothing has changed in the production of indigo for over a century. But now, French biotech innovator Synovance is producing dyes from microorganisms using industrial waste as raw material. Co-Founder and COO Efi Lioliou explains how the company has been able to produce sustainable dyes using biochemical methods.

Sweden. France and Denmark have issued a call for new global rules for exporting textile waste under the Basel Convention, in the backdrop of EU's exports of used textiles tripling in the last 20 years to countries in Africa and Asia who do not have the capacity to ensure proper waste management.