The Horizon Europe-funded T-REX (Textile Recycling Excellence) Project took center stage at the 19th Annual Textile ETP Conference, held in Alcoy, Spain from May 12 to 14, spotlighting its pioneering efforts in textile-to-textile recycling and circular product design.
Organized in collaboration with AITEX, this year’s conference focused on ecodesign and sustainable solutions for technical and smart textiles. Industry leaders, researchers, and innovators convened to explore strategies for scaling circularity in fashion and textiles across Europe.
During a dedicated session on Ecodesign for Sustainable Textile Products, Drishti Masand of adidas formally introduced the T-REX Project to a wide audience of sector stakeholders. The session laid the foundation for deeper discussions on how apparel can be engineered to support recyclability and circularity from the outset.
The T-REX consortium also hosted a breakout session titled “Ecodesign for Circularity: Designing Apparel and Fashion Products to Enable Effective Circularity and Recyclability”. Key highlights included:
- Natalia Mena (adidas) provided a comprehensive overview of the T-REX Blueprint, a framework for scaling closed-loop sorting and recycling systems for household textile waste.
- Anja Kossel-Scharf (adidas) and Doris Hondtong (Arapaha) delivered technical insights into garment design guidance that supports recyclability standards.
- A panel discussion on circular business models, featuring Mamoon Ahmed Cheema (adidas) and Iro Kofokotsiou (Fashion for Good), examined how strategic collaboration can unlock scalable, economically viable recycling systems.
The T-REX Project unites 13 key organizations across the European textile value chain, working toward a unified approach for textile-to-textile recycling. Its core mission is to convert post-consumer textile waste into high-quality feedstock for new products, supporting the transition to a circular textile economy in alignment with EU environmental goals.
