Re:inventex Builds Scalable Textile Recycling Solutions from Wartime Ukraine

Your company is based in Ukraine—a country that has faced significant geopolitical and economic disruptions. How has this shaped your operations, logistics, and strategy for international collaboration? Has the situation led to any unanticipated innovation or resilience-building within your supply or value chains?
Tetiana Pushkarova: Operating from Ukraine during wartime has required a complete rethinking of how we manage operations, partnerships, and long-term planning. We’ve faced disruptions in logistics, power supply, and market stability, but these constraints have also accelerated our capacity to adapt. We’ve localised and diversified our supply chains, invested in energy-efficient solutions, and streamlined internal processes for greater agility.

This context has also shaped our view of international cooperation. As a candidate country to the EU, Ukraine is in the process of aligning with European sustainability and waste management regulations. That gives us both a challenge and an advantage: we must modernise quickly, but we’re doing so from a relatively flexible regulatory environment. Combined with lower labour costs and geographic proximity to EU markets, this gives us a unique position to support Europe’s circular transition.

We're still building, still learning, but our resilience is now part of our identity. We want to turn the lessons of this experience into long-term value, and into a role within Europe’s evolving circular economy.

Much of the conversation around circularity today risks becoming performative, especially when filtered through the lens of brand marketing. How does Re:inventex ensure that your recycling and material regeneration processes aren’t just technically sound but also verifiably circular, and accountable in terms of real-world environmental impact?
Tetiana Pushkarova: We believe circularity must be measured by outcomes, not just intentions. That’s why we go beyond declarations. Each processed batch at Re:inventex is tracked, and where possible, we provide clients with documentation and traceability information. We collaborate closely with partners to ensure that recycled materials are not only reused but reintegrated into meaningful applications, avoiding downcycling where possible.

We are also engaging in early lifecycle analysis and impact tracking for selected product streams, recognising that transparency is a continuous process. Our systems aren’t perfect, and we are still building capacity, but we see integrity and accountability as core to our role in the circular economy. Rather than market ourselves as flawless, we focus on practical progress and shared learning.

According to you, what are the most urgent regulatory or policy changes needed to accelerate textile recycling across Europe and its neighbouring regions? Where do current Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) frameworks succeed or fall short—and how should recyclers like Re:inventex be shaping this conversation?
Tetiana Pushkarova: The most urgent need is to establish a common policy framework that both prioritises recycling over landfilling and ensures that EPR schemes are clear, enforceable, and supportive of operational realities. Current EPR systems are too fragmented and often fail to engage those who are actually doing the recycling. Without clarity on responsibilities and sufficient financial backing, meaningful change is difficult.

At Re:inventex, we believe that effective policy should be shaped through ongoing, inclusive dialogue between recyclers, manufacturers, policymakers, and researchers. Recyclers bring a unique operational perspective, grounded in the realities of infrastructure limitations, material diversity, and processing constraints, that is often missing from top-down regulatory frameworks.

We see great value in building stronger bridges between industry and policy through multi-stakeholder platforms such as EURATEX at the European level and Ukrlegprom in Ukraine. These organisations help foster constructive exchange and align diverse interests across the value chain. Strengthening such collaboration is key to creating policies that are not only ambitious but also implementable and grounded in practical experience.

We would also emphasise the importance of broader waste management reform. When landfilling remains the cheapest and easiest option, circular models have little chance to scale. Legally restricting landfill access for textiles and embedding recycling as a higher-order obligation could fundamentally shift market behavior.

From our Ukrainian perspective, we are in the process of aligning our national regulations with EU law, and this is a chance to get it right from the start. Ukraine offers a cost-effective, agile manufacturing base close to European markets. With the right frameworks, we can become a valuable regional partner in delivering the EU’s circular economy goals.

What role do you see for textile recyclers like Re:inventex in influencing design for recyclability at the brand and manufacturer level? Are you engaging directly with fashion brands or textile producers to close the loop upstream—and if so, what are the most promising or frustrating aspects of those collaborations?
Tetiana Pushkarova: At Re:inventex, we actively engage with fashion brands, textile producers, and universities to share practical, hands-on insights about what works, and what doesn’t, in real-world recycling. Our mission is to help ensure that product development reflects the true complexity of sorting, material separation, and fibre recovery from the outset.

We’ve seen the most constructive collaboration with young or sustainability-driven brands and agile manufacturers. These partners are more likely to value circularity and are open to experimentation. However, we face significant barriers when working with large-scale or long-established manufacturers. Unless they are forced to act, most are extremely slow to change core production processes, especially if those changes affect speed, costs, or familiar workflows.

This inertia is particularly problematic given what lies ahead. The EU’s upcoming Digital Product Passport, set to become mandatory in 2027 for all textile products sold in the EU regardless of manufacturing origin, will force a system-wide shift. Yet many suppliers, especially outside the EU, are still unaware of the urgency or scale of change required.

At Re:inventex, we attend industry workshops, lectures, and policy briefings to stay informed and act as a knowledge bridge for our network. We also run continuous awareness campaigns with local producers. Still, we regularly encounter low awareness, limited preparedness, and a lack of perceived urgency. Many manufacturers view circularity as a distant issue or simply a “compliance box” to tick.

We’ve learned that influence is a long-term process. We don’t claim to have all the answers, but we bring field-tested experience, and we’re committed to co-creating scalable, workable solutions. True collaboration starts with shared understanding, and we’re working to build it, even when the conversation is difficult.