The fashion industry generates over 100 million tonnes of textile waste annually, with volumes projected to hit 134 million tonnes by 2030. While mono-materials like cotton or polyester are increasingly recyclable, blended fabrics such as cotton-polyester remain a major obstacle to circularity.
At the Global Fashion Summit, innovators are addressing this challenge head-on. Refiberd, winner of the 2025 Trailblazer Programme, uses AI-driven hyperspectral imaging to identify fibre compositions with over 90% accuracy, enabling large-scale sorting of even complex blends. Operating in Turkey and the Netherlands, RE&UP recovers cotton and polyester from blends via a low-impact thermo-mechanical process, working with brands like PUMA to scale recycling to one million tonnes annually. Meanwhile, Germany-based matterr develops chemical recycling methods for difficult blends, breaking down polyester into virgin-quality raw materials, backed by €30 million in state funding.
Traceability platforms like Trace for Good, Retraced, and Ympact complement these efforts by mapping materials through the supply chain, ensuring feedstock quality and accountability. Together, these solutions form a connected ecosystem—improving input streams, enhancing recycling outputs, and enabling the industry to meet tightening global regulations.
Once seen as a dead-end for recyclers, fabric blends may soon become a viable resource, helping fashion transition toward a fully circular future.
