Recycling

Lithuanian researchers have developed methods to convert textile waste into alternative fuel and cement additives. Their work showed that textile-derived ash could partially replace conventional cement while improving compressive strength. The approach addressed mounting textile waste volumes, reduced carbon emissions from cement production and supported circular economy goals across two highly resource-intensive industries.

The economics of reuse are under strain as ultra-fast fashion floods markets with garments never designed to last. In this environment, circular systems are absorbing rising costs without corresponding value. Steven Bethell, Founder of Bank & Vogue and Beyond Retro, outlines how low-quality imports are destabilising charities, recycling infrastructure, and material integrity across the secondhand ecosystem.

Researchers at Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) are pioneering methods to convert textile waste into energy and high-performance cement alternatives — a dual breakthrough that could ease pressure on two of the world’s most resource-hungry sectors: textiles and construction.

The fashion sector continues to struggle with inconsistent data, fragmented supply chains and growing regulatory pressure, limiting progress on circularity. The updated Circular Transition Indicators guidance aims to overcome these challenges with refined methodologies and clearer regulatory alignment. Elisabetta Rocchi, Associate for Circular Products and Materials at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, outlines how the sector-specific edition strengthens measurement and implementation.

India has taken circular fashion from pilot to production. In less than a year, its denim ecosystem has stitched recyclers, spinners, and manufacturers into a single operational loop. The result, helmed by Denim Deal, is a functioning, traceable supply chain turning waste into wear—and positioning India as the first manufacturing base to industrialise circular denim at scale.

Europe’s denim industry has put data where its mouth is. A new regional collection helmed by Denim Deal shows that traceability, accountability, and aesthetics can function as one production system. By hard-coding transparency into every stage of design and manufacture, European mills have turned circularity from experiment into standard practice across their factory floors.

Circular denim has stepped out of concept decks and onto the hanger. At the recent Kingpins Amsterdam show, an international alliance of mills and recyclers helmed by Denim Deal unveiled full collections proving that post-consumer cotton can compete on price, quality, and design. What was once sustainability rhetoric is now a ready-to-order reality for the industry.