The H&M Group has launched a joint venture with Remondis to collect, sort and sell used and unwanted garments and textiles.
- The new standalone venture would be called Looper Textile Co, and would be owned at 50-50 by both H&M Group and Remondis.
- Looper intends to collect, sort and sell used and unwanted garments and textiles and thereby extend the highest use of these valuable resources.
- Remondis is German multinational company into recycling, water resource management and industrial and communal services with headquarters in Lünen.
Staying in Business: The H&M Group has been experimenting with this segment for a while, and was the first fashion company to launch a garment collecting initiative worldwide in 2013.
- Through its investment arm H&M CO:LAB, H&M has been investing in companies that develop technologies to enable textile recycling.
- With the creation of this standalone joint venture, H&M Group claims to be participating more directly in developing the infrastructure that is necessary to close the loop of fashion.
- In 2021, H&M tripled the use of recycled materials in its products to 17.9% and now aims to reach 30% by 2025.
What Looper Seeks to Do: Remondis is a long-standing leader in waste management, with invaluable know-how in providing collection and sorting solutions at scale.
- Looper aims to become a preferred feedstock provider to companies and innovators engaged in textile resale and recycling.
- Looper is starting its operations in Europe and aims to extend the highest use of approximately 40 million garments during 2023.
- The company plans to innovate within textile collection and sorting, for example by testing new collection schemes and implementing automated sorting technologies such as near-infrared sorting, as well as by developing an assortment of partners in the areas of reuse and recycling.
Initiatives in Progress: A number of initiatives of the H&M Group are already under way:
- Infinited Fiber Company makes regenerated cellulosic fibre from cotton waste. Infinna was first used by Weekday and now H&M CO:LAB has invested in the company to help them move closer to commercial volumes.
- In one of H&M’s stores in Stockholm, the LOOOP machine turns customer’s old garments into new ones in just eight steps. It was developed by Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel (HKRITA) in collaboration with H&M Foundation.
- With support from H&M CO:LAB, Renewcell have developed a regenerated cellulosic fibre made from recycled cotton waste. H&M made the first dress from Circulose in 2020.
- The Green Machine fully separates and recycles cotton and polyester blends at scale. Monki created the first collection using recycled fibres from the machine. It was developed by HKRITA in collaboration with H&M Foundation.
What They Said:
We are excited to announce the launch of Looper Textile Co. Used and unwanted garments must first be collected and sorted into different streams, such as by type of material or garment, in order to be reused or recycled. Today, less than 40% of used clothes are collected in the EU. Consequently, 60% of post-consumer textiles go directly to waste. By building infrastructure and solutions for collection and sorting, we hope to move one step closer toward enabling circularity, thereby minimizing the CO²-impact and improving resource efficiency.
— Emily Bolon
Chief Executive Officer
Looper Textile Co
