Allbirds, H&M, Zara use recycled yarn from Circa, backed by Patagonia
Fast fashion is a major environmental culprit, requiring large amounts of water consumption and causing high carbon emissions and pollution. This also leads to an increase in microplastic and textile waste.
One result of this was a boom in savings. But turning old clothes into new items poses a much bigger challenge.
The fashion industry accounts for 4 percent to 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. various sourcesHowever, less than 1% of clothes are made into new clothes. This is because most fabrics today are blends and must be broken down into their original fibers to be remanufactured.
A Virginia-based startup is trying to solve the problem with the goal of transforming fashion into a circular economy.
Founded in 2011, Circ has developed a technology that separates polycotton material into its original components and transforms them into new, virgin quality materials. Previous attempts to do this had destroyed one fiber or the other.
“It’s a chemical process,” Circ CEO Peter Majeranowski said. “It’s a lot like baking a cake where we break down the polyester into its building blocks, separate it from the cotton, and put it back at the beginning of the supply chain to be made into new clothing.”
Polyester and cotton make up approximately 77% of the global textile market. Circ’s hydrothermal technology can recycle individual fibers as well as any blend ratio of the two, known as polycotton blends.
“We work with materials that cannot be salvaged, repaired or resold,” Majeranowski said. “It’s really headed for landfill or incineration.”
Circ sources vintage clothing from a variety of sources, either purchased or donated. After breaking down the fibers, it sells them back into the garment supply chain to spinning mills, dye houses and fabric manufacturers. all birdsZara and H&M use environmentally recycled fabrics in some of their products.
There’s a small price difference, but it’s also an attractive option for environmentally conscious brands like Patagonia, Circ’s investor.
“Going after a really important raw material like a cotton poly blend… is always at the top of our decision-making process,” said Matthew Dwyer, Patagonia’s vice president of global product footprint.
As for the high price, Dwyer said that’s to be expected from any innovation that needs to scale to a large market.
“For us it’s not just about getting to market, it’s about making sure our partners are ready to scale from there, because if you’re just making concept cars there’s no use and there’s no point in saving the planet,” he said.
Circ has raised a total of $100 million from Patagonia, along with Temasek, Taranis, Marubeni, Inditex and Breakthrough Energy Ventures.
The startup is headquartered in Danville, Virginia, formerly home to the largest textile mill in the United States. It is now expanding globally with the first industrial-sized textile-to-textile recycling facility in France.
