Next Gen Cotton by Re&Up. Credits: Re&Up Textile recycling specialist Re&Up Recycling Technologies has entered into a strategic collaboration with American denim brand Madewell and global fabric manufacturer Isko. By transforming around 20,000 used jeans into high-quality recycled raw material for a ‘textile-to-textile’ denim collection by Madewell, the partner companies are demonstrating the market readiness of circular systems for the denim sector. The challenge with post-consumer jeans lies primarily in their material diversity and varying levels of wear. Re&Up's process is therefore designed to work regardless of the original material composition, transforming textile waste into a new ‘raw material building block’. Recycling of mixed fabrics into next-gen cotton and polyester Re&Up's advanced recycling technology makes it possible to break down these used garments and process them into next-gen cotton and polyester fibres that meet the durability and aesthetic requirements of the premium denim market. The denim weaver Isko is responsible for the further processing of the fibres, turning them into Global Recycled Standard (GRS) certified fabrics. The US denim brand Madewell has now used the material for a capsule collection that launched in April and is sold via its online shop. The brand, founded in 2006, has been running a denim take-back initiative for more than a decade, through which over two million pairs of jeans have already been collected and recycled. “Closing the loop on post-consumer denim requires industrial precision,” said Marco Lucietti, head of global marketing and communications at Re&Up. “Our collaboration with Madewell and Isko shows that…
