Each year, the world generates an estimated 92 million tons of textile waste, with a very small fraction currently being recycled. This new development from the University of Tartu aims to address this challenge by providing a viable pathway to repurpose cotton fabrics into valuable new materials.

Professor Tarmo Tamm, a leading figure in applied materials science at the University of Tartu, highlighted the inherent value of cellulose. “Cellulose is an extremely valuable polymer,” Professor Tamm stated. “It is one of the strongest natural polymers, it is biodegradable, and applications can be found for it in areas where we currently use oil- and natural gas-based materials.”

The research team focused on cotton textile waste, experimenting with materials ranging from cotton T-shirts to denim jeans to produce the novel foam. A key challenge in processing blended textiles, which often contain both synthetic and natural fibers, is the separation of these components. To overcome this, the team utilizes ionic liquids, a form of liquid salt, to effectively dissolve the natural cellulose fibers.

Once the cellulose is dissolved, it can be chemically modified to impart new properties, such as water repellency. The resulting foam material exhibits potential for use in both the construction and packaging industries. Professor Tamm expressed optimism that this cellulose foam could serve as a replacement for polystyrene foam, often seen littering urban and natural environments. “Our hope is that we can replace foam plastic for insulation and packaging, at least to some extent, with foam materials made from cellulose waste,” he remarked.

The research group has already demonstrated the feasibility of producing this type of material. The subsequent phase of their work involves collaboration with the Estonian University of Life Sciences to conduct biodegradation studies in soil and water. This step is crucial before exploring broader implementation of their methods. The findings of this research have been published in the journal Circular Economy and Sustainability. This advancement in cellulose foam from textile waste underscores a growing trend in material innovation.

The trial, a collaboration with Bookoff Group Holdings, a prominent player in the used goods market, has seen collection boxes installed in approximately 30 FamilyMart stores situated in Tokyo’s residential districts. Bookoff Group Holdings is set to manage the resale of some of these collected items internationally, with Malaysia identified as one of the potential overseas markets. This venture underscores a commitment to the principles of a circular economy, where items are kept in use for as long as possible.

FamilyMart has also indicated that any clothing not deemed suitable for resale will undergo a recycling process, transforming it into new fibre. This dual approach of reuse and recycling highlights a comprehensive strategy to mitigate the environmental impact of textiles. The launch of these FamilyMart Japan initiatives marks the first joint project following a capital alliance formed between Itochu Corporation, the parent company of FamilyMart, and Bookoff Group in February of this year.

This programme builds upon FamilyMart’s established success with its food drive charity, a nationwide effort implemented in around 4,900 of its 16,400 stores. That programme allows customers to donate excess household food items to assist those in need, demonstrating the company’s ongoing dedication to community welfare and sustainable practices. The expansion into textile collection further solidifies the company’s commitment to addressing environmental concerns through tangible, customer-facing solutions. These FamilyMart Japan initiatives are part of a growing trend among retailers to integrate sustainable practices into their core operations, recognizing the importance of reducing waste and promoting responsible consumption.

The message from the stage was blunt: companies that still frame climate action as a compliance exercise are misreading the risk landscape. With climate-related volatility affecting costs and continuity of supply, sustainability has effectively become part of enterprise risk planning—what several speakers described as sustainability as financial risk, rather than a reputational add-on.

H&M CFO Adam Karlsson said investment choices increasingly need to weigh the price of delay as well as the cost of action, because climate risks are beginning to influence earnings quality, cash-flow stability and access to reliable supply. “It’s no longer about whether we should do it, it’s rather how we do it,” he said.

At Zalando, the sustainability case is being positioned not only as protection against downside, but as a lever for competitiveness—supporting growth, efficiency and customer relevance. Pascal Brun, VP of sustainability, suggested that simply preventing margin erosion is not enough to future-proof a business. “Keeping margins or preventing margin loss basically just keeps you in the business. But I think we all need more than that,” he said.

Speakers also stressed that many of retail’s biggest emissions sources and inefficiencies sit in shared upstream networks, which cannot be fixed by single companies acting alone. The panel called for more practical collaboration across common supply chains—moving from broad pledges to scalable joint programmes that can coordinate standards, investment and implementation.

Karlsson pointed to early progress in blended financing structures that bring together brand commitments, philanthropic capital and institutional funding to accelerate decarbonisation. He said a new H&M-led initiative involving seven brands had already “doubled the effectiveness” of its investment approach, signalling how pooled action can amplify results.

FMI’s chief collaboration and commercial officer Mark W. Baum also linked sustainability directly to core business outcomes, arguing that it now sits at the intersection of operations, finance and brand trust. “It’s become a business imperative, and it’s really directly tied to business performance, supply chain resilience, consumer trust, risk, financing,” he said.

Taken together, the panel’s argument was that retailers should plan and invest with sustainability as financial risk in mind—treating climate and resource pressures as material business variables that influence costs, continuity, competitiveness and access to capital, rather than as an isolated ESG reporting requirement.

This is not simply a nostalgic return to old ways. The Scottish wool revival is taking shape as something more considered and specialised a market transformation in which certain fibres, most notably Shetland wool, are commanding renewed attention and achieving prices that would have seemed ambitious just a generation ago.

Sustainability Is Rewriting the Case for Natural Fibres

At the heart of this renewed interest in British wool lies a fundamental shift in how consumers and brands think about the materials they buy. The environmental consequences of synthetic fibres from microplastic pollution to carbon-intensive manufacturing have become a growing concern, and that concern is now actively reshaping purchasing decisions across the global textile industry.

Wool offers a genuinely compelling counter-proposition. It is renewable, naturally biodegradable, and produces no microplastic waste during use or washing. In an era where sustainable wool is no longer a niche talking point but a mainstream expectation, these qualities have repositioned wool as a forward-looking premium material rather than a relic of an older industrial age. For brands navigating increasing regulatory and reputational pressure around sustainability, wool and particularly traceable, regionally specific fibres like Scottish wool provides a credible and marketable answer.

Heritage Fashion and Cultural Identity Are Fuelling Demand

Beyond environmental considerations, the cultural moment has also proven remarkably favourable for Scottish wool. Traditional British styles — tweed jackets, heritage knitwear, countryside-inspired outerwear — have experienced a significant resurgence in popularity. This aesthetic revival has been embraced not only by established luxury houses but also by a younger generation of consumers drawn to authenticity, craft, and a certain quiet permanence in the things they wear.

Scottish wool sits naturally at the centre of this narrative. Its associations with skilled craftsmanship, rural provenance, and centuries of textile tradition give it a cultural depth that mass-produced synthetic alternatives simply cannot replicate. For designers working within the heritage fashion space, sourcing from Scottish producers is increasingly both a practical and a storytelling decision.

Transparent Supply Chains Add Another Layer of Value

Alongside the aesthetic appeal, there is a growing appetite among consumers for transparency — for knowing precisely where a product originates and how it has been made. Scottish wool fits neatly into this demand. Its traceability, its clear link to specific rural communities, and its connection to long-established traditional skills all add layers of value that extend well beyond the physical qualities of the fibre itself. For manufacturers and designers alike, this transforms wool from a raw material into part of a broader, more compelling story about authenticity and responsible sourcing.

Why Shetland Wool Stands Apart in Today’s UK Market

Not all wool is experiencing the same trajectory, and it is important to understand that the UK wool market encompasses an enormously diverse range of fibre types with very different characteristics and commercial fortunes. Within this varied landscape, Shetland wool has emerged as one of the most in-demand and commercially dynamic fibres available.

What makes Shetland wool distinctive is a rare combination of qualities. It offers a fine texture and exceptional warmth relative to its weight, making it particularly prized in Scottish knitwear and high-end clothing applications. Unlike purely luxury fibres, it also possesses a natural durability that suits everyday wear. This places it in a uniquely advantageous position — soft enough for direct skin contact, robust enough to last, and deeply associated with a regional identity that carries genuine weight in premium and export markets.

Demand for Shetland wool has grown steadily among independent designers, established fashion brands, and conscious consumers seeking high-quality natural fibres with a clear and verifiable origin story. Its strong brand identity — rooted in the specific landscapes, sheep breeds, and communities of the Shetland Islands — gives it a provenance premium that few other UK wool types can match.

How Other UK Wool Types Compare

The picture for other British wool varieties is more mixed. Coarser lowland wools, while benefiting in part from the broader push toward sustainable materials, face a fundamentally different market. These fibres are generally less suited to clothing and find their applications instead in carpets, acoustic and thermal insulation, and upholstery. Demand in these sectors is steady and is growing in line with the construction and interiors industries’ increasing interest in sustainable alternatives, but it is price-sensitive and far less influenced by the fashion-driven premiums that benefit finer wools.

Mid-range wool types — including many of those used in tweed and traditional structured outerwear — occupy a more promising middle ground. The popularity of heritage fashion has given these fibres a modest but meaningful revival. They offer durability and a characterful texture suited to tailored garments, and they benefit from many of the same provenance and sustainability narratives driving interest in Scottish wool more broadly. Even so, they do not command the same premium positioning as Shetland wool, which benefits from a sharper, more globally recognisable identity and greater versatility across clothing categories.

Value Over Volume: A Strategic Shift for the Industry

Perhaps the most significant structural change in the current market is that growth is being driven by value rather than volume. The UK wool market is no longer attempting to compete with cheap synthetic fibres on the basis of price alone — that battle was effectively lost decades ago. Instead, the industry is repositioning itself as a producer of high-quality, sustainable, and story-rich materials for niche and premium markets where price sensitivity is lower and brand differentiation matters enormously.

This shift is allowing certain wool types — particularly those with distinctive physical qualities or strong regional branding — to achieve meaningfully higher prices, even as overall production volumes remain relatively stable or in some areas continue to decline. For Shetland wool and, to a lesser extent, other premium Scottish fibres, this dynamic creates genuine commercial opportunity.

Challenges That Still Confront the Sector

It would be premature, however, to describe what is happening as an unqualified renaissance. Synthetic fibres continue to dominate the global textile market by volume, driven by cost advantages and manufacturing scalability that natural fibres cannot easily match.

Many sheep farmers across the UK still depend more on meat sales than wool as their primary source of income. Ongoing labour constraints—especially the shortage of skilled shearers—continue to challenge the sector’s long-term sustainability. Against this backdrop, the recent uptick in demand is better understood as a rebound rather than a full-scale revival.

Overall, interest in Scottish wool is growing, but this growth mirrors wider shifts in the global marketplace. Today, sustainability, provenance, and quality are taking precedence over the former emphasis on high-volume, low-cost production.

In this changing environment, Shetland wool has emerged as a particularly sought-after fibre, thanks to its distinctive blend of performance, heritage, and strong brand appeal.

At the same time, other varieties of UK wool are carving out niches, especially in areas like eco-friendly construction and heritage-led fashion. Looking ahead, the industry’s success will likely depend on its ability to position itself at the premium end and stand apart in an increasingly crowded market.

The fund said the programmes it is backing target the biggest pressure points in clothing’s impact profile, including emissions, water demand and waste tied to fibre sourcing and manufacturing. Collectively, those stages are estimated to account for roughly 80% of fashion’s environmental footprint. By directing money into new fibre pathways and improved cotton genetics, the Bezos Earth Fund fashion materials push is intended to reduce these upstream burdens before garments ever reach consumers.

The $34 million package is split across four main initiatives:

Bacteria-grown fibre from agricultural waste

Columbia University, working with the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), will receive $11.5 million to develop a textile fibre grown by bacteria that feed on agricultural waste. The material is being engineered to be strong and flexible while remaining biodegradable, with the aim of reducing land use and helping limit microplastic pollution associated with synthetic fibres.

Plastic-free silk alternative inspired by spider silk

The University of California, Berkeley will receive $10 million to develop a biodegradable fibre inspired by spider silk that avoids reliance on animals and plastics. The project brings together researchers from Stanford University and the California Institute of Technology, with the goal of creating a next-generation silk-like material that can deliver performance without conventional environmental trade-offs.

New cotton through gene editing and synthetic biology

Clemson University has been awarded $11 million for a programme to develop new cotton varieties using gene editing and synthetic biology, in collaboration with the University of Georgia. The research aims to deliver cotton with built-in colour and improved resilience, while reducing environmental impacts compared with some existing synthetic options used in apparel.

Rebuilding access to non-GMO cotton genetics

A further $1.5 million will go to the Cotton Foundation to restore and expand a publicly accessible, non-GMO cotton seed bank. The goal is to preserve genetic diversity and provide a resource for farmers and researchers seeking to improve cotton performance and adaptability over time.

Tom Taylor, president and CEO of the Bezos Earth Fund, framed the grants as part of a wider mission to back solutions that connect climate action with practical benefits for communities. “At the Bezos Earth Fund we’re constantly looking for groundbreaking new solutions at the intersection of climate, nature, people, and communities to ensure we’re protecting and restoring the world we love. We believe sustainable fashion is part of that mission by making sustainable clothing choices easy, widely available, and ultimately better for the planet and for people.”

The Bezos Earth Fund was created in 2020 after Amazon founder and executive chair Jeff Bezos pledged $10 billion to support climate and nature initiatives over the decade. Fashion has been one area of growing focus. In 2025, the fund and the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Foundation launched The Next Thread Initiative, a $6.25 million partnership intended to accelerate sustainable innovation and education across the US fashion sector.

The Earth Fund said insights generated through that initiative will help shape future investments, including in materials science, manufacturing improvements and supply-chain transformation. Taken together, the new grants signal a strategic bet that the next wave of lower-impact apparel will be enabled by breakthroughs in fibre chemistry and biology—placing Bezos Earth Fund fashion materials research at the centre of the long-term effort to decouple fashion growth from environmental harm.

M&S currently operates more than 210 bio-CNG trucks, including around 150 Scania 4×2 units and 26 Scania 6×2 vehicles. The company said it plans to add further trucks over the next year, lifting the size of its lower-emission fleet to more than 300 bio-CNG vehicles by the end of March 2027. The expansion supports M&S’ wider Plan A ambitions, including its goal to become a net-zero business across its value chain by 2040.

To support the larger fleet, M&S has signed a long-term agreement with CNG Fuels to install Mobile Refuelling Stations (MRS) at distribution centres. The company said these sites will provide daily capacity to refuel more than 300 CNG trucks, complementing CNG Fuels’ public-access network of 16 stations. That national network is also being expanded, with CNG Fuels aiming to support up to 20,000 truck refuels per day by the end of 2028.

Bio-CNG is produced from renewable waste feedstocks, including food waste and agricultural by-products such as manure, and is positioned by operators as a “drop-in” alternative that can reduce emissions without waiting for full electrification of long-haul transport.

Julian Bailey, Transport Director at M&S, said the retailer has tested multiple options and is scaling what it sees as the most deployable solution for heavy fleet decarbonisation today. “Moving to lower-carbon logistics with reduced dependency on diesel and the increased use of new technologies and lower carbon fuels is key to achieving our Plan A Net Zero ambitions. We trialled a range of technologies and have chosen Bio-CNG as a key solution for decarbonising our logistics fleet as it is a proven, flexible and cost-efficient fuel supported by mature infrastructure.”

Philip Fjeld, CEO and co-founder of ReFuels, said biomethane offers an immediate pathway to reduce emissions in road freight, especially when combined with refuelling infrastructure designed for large fleets. “We are proud to support M&S as they shift towards more sustainable logistics. Biomethane is a cost-efficient here-and-now solution to decarbonise road transport, and our Mobile Refuelling Stations help large fleets decarbonise quickly. This agreement underscores the rapid growth in demand from major UK retailers and distributors.”

Scania, which supplies a significant share of the vehicles in the programme, said collaboration across manufacturers, fuel providers and fleet operators will be key to delivering meaningful reductions at scale. “We are pleased to be working in collaboration with Marks & Spencer, and to be playing an active role in helping them reach their Plan A Net Zero ambitions.

“At Scania, we are driving the shift towards sustainable transport systems that are better for business, society and the environment. By working together with our partners, we can develop transport solutions that reduce our carbon footprints, while making sure that we continue to meet the demands of a growing population – profitably and sustainably

“It is testament to the vision and the shared values between the three companies that we can work side-by-side. And this is just the beginning, we are very excited to be in partnership with Marks & Spencer and CNG Fuels, and we can’t wait to see how this partnership grows and evolves in the future.”

Alongside the expansion in biomethane-powered trucks, M&S said it is also trialling electrification in its distribution network. The retailer currently operates 13 battery-electric HGVs with zero tailpipe emissions, as well as five battery-electric rigid trucks, across its food and non-food logistics operations.

The reality is more complex, and in many cases, far more unsettling. In cities where clothing consumption is high, donation systems are now receiving volumes that outstrip what local secondhand shoppers can absorb. That imbalance has quietly reshaped what donation means in practice, turning it into a sorting-and-disposal challenge as much as a pathway to reuse.

Understanding where donated clothes go begins behind the scenes, long before anything reaches a rack. Donations typically flow to charity warehouses and commercial collectors where items are graded quickly. The best pieces clean, durable, and still desirable may be priced and sold locally. That is the part people see, and it reinforces the idea that donation automatically equals reuse.

But charities and collectors are flooded. The incoming stream is so large that most organisations cannot sell more than a fraction of what they receive. What remains is a mixture of low-demand garments, inconsistent quality, and fast-fashion pieces that have already been worn hard or were never built to last. Some of it is discarded domestically because it is damaged or contaminated. Much of it is bundled into bales and exported, often thousands of kilometres away, to secondary markets.

This is the uncomfortable truth about where donated clothes go: the problem doesn’t disappear when the clothing leaves the country. Exporting simply shifts the pressure to other places—often to communities with less capacity to manage textile waste, fewer formal recycling routes, and limited landfill alternatives. The environmental and economic burden is redistributed rather than resolved.

At Global Textile Times, the reporting and data point to a clear conclusion: donation has been mistaken for a circularity solution when it is, at best, a collection mechanism. When donation is expected to “fix” overconsumption and overproduction, it becomes a pressure valve that moves surplus textiles elsewhere instead of preventing them. The circular economy cannot be built on overflow management; it requires fewer garments entering the system, better products staying in use longer, and local infrastructure that can actually handle what is collected.

Multiple city-based tracking efforts have found the same pattern across wealthy regions like Austin, Toronto, Melbourne, and Oslo: high donation volumes, limited local demand, and heavy reliance on exports. The system may vary by country, but the structural logic repeats—too many garments coming in, too little resale capacity, and too few local options for repair, remanufacture, or recycling at scale.

The strain also exposes a mismatch between what charities are designed to do and what they are being asked to do. Charity shops exist to fund social programmes and support communities, not to operate as a de facto waste-management industry for the fashion sector. Yet rising donation volumes have pushed them into exactly that role. Sector observers note that society has grown used to charities doing the heavy lifting, even though many have been unable to fully handle the volume of donated clothes for a long time. These organisations are driven by social welfare values and must raise funds for their programmes, but their operations are often ill-equipped to deal with the sheer scale of textiles that now need to be reused or recycled.

The deeper cause is not what happens at the donation bin; it starts well before that. Two forces dominate: oversupply and overconsumption. Clothing has become cheaper, faster, and increasingly disposable. People buy more items than they need, wear them fewer times, then offload them quickly often with the belief that donation neutralises the impact. Meanwhile, garment quality has deteriorated in many segments. Fibres and construction often can’t withstand multiple owners, and blended materials can be difficult to recycle. Even the most efficient sorting operation cannot turn fragile, low-quality products into endless reuse.

There is a knock-on effect, too. When donation streams are dominated by low-grade items, they can weaken local secondhand markets. Resale businesses may struggle to source consistently wearable clothing from local inflows and, in some cases, import higher-quality secondhand product to meet customer expectations. More donations do not automatically translate to more successful reuse; in saturated systems, more donations can simply mean more waste.

This is where the idea of “sufficiency” becomes essential. Recycling and reuse matter, but they cannot solve an ever-rising volume problem on their own. Sufficiency means buying less, keeping clothes longer, and repairing rather than replacing. Without sufficiency, “circularity” becomes a permanent exercise in dealing with excess.

Cities have a decisive role to play. The study’s recommendations echoed by a growing body of urban circularity work suggest that textiles need to be treated as a managed material stream, not as a charity issue. That requires investment in local collection, sorting, and processing capacity, so that wearable items are routed into resale, repairable pieces are channelled into services, and non-reusable textiles are dealt with through local recycling or responsible disposal rather than being exported by default.

Practical changes can help keep clothes in use longer: accessible repair services, mending education, swap events, and support for circular businesses through grants or reduced rent. Urban planning choices also matter. When cities centre new-mall development while repair cafés and resale shops are pushed to the outskirts, they design a landscape where fast fashion has the advantage. Some European cities are beginning to rebalance this by offering incentives to repair and reuse businesses, recognising that circularity needs convenience and visibility to compete.

Advertising and promotion can amplify or undermine these efforts. Fast fashion dominates public attention with budgets and prime locations, while secondhand and repair often operate quietly. Researchers argue that cities should actively amplify reuse ecosystems through grants, lower rents, and better high-street placement while limiting the dominance of fashion advertising in public spaces. When secondhand and repair are harder to find, and new fashion is everywhere, the system all but guarantees that fast consumption wins.

For individuals, the message is straightforward, if not always comfortable: the most meaningful impact comes from reducing the rate of buying and discarding. Wear what you own more, repair early, and buy better when you must buy new. Donate only what is clean, wearable, and likely to be reused and remember that donation is not a moral “reset,” but one step in a system under strain.

Donating can still be valuable, but it is not a magic solution. Many donated garments will travel across borders. Some will be resold. Too many will still end up as waste just in a different country. The real fix requires change at every level: brands that slow production and improve quality, cities that build local textile systems, and consumers who treat clothing as durable goods rather than short-lived purchases. Only then does the path of donation begin to align with the responsibility people hope it represents.

The athleticwear brand’s US Cotton Trust Protocol membership will begin translating into product changes later this year. As an initial rollout, Under Armour plans to source Trust Protocol-tracked cotton for all graphic T-shirts in its Freedom collection this fall. The Freedom line is positioned as a tribute to military personnel, veterans and first responders.

Under Armour’s sustainability director Aaron Driggers said cotton provenance and production practices are becoming central to how the company evaluates materials. “Under Armour believes performance starts with the materials we choose. Where and how our cotton is grown matters. We are pleased to join the US Cotton Trust Protocol and enhance our supply chain transparency as we continue to develop quality products for athletes.”

The Trust Protocol functions as a voluntary sustainability programme for US cotton growers and a traceability platform for downstream buyers. It is built around quantifiable goals and verification, with continuous improvement measured across six sustainability areas. Under Armour said the framework will allow it to monitor progress and substantiate improvements using consistent indicators rather than relying on high-level claims.

Dr Gary Adams, president of the US Cotton Trust Protocol, said the programme’s measurement-first structure fits Under Armour’s focus on innovation. “We welcome Under Armour a brand dedicated to innovation and continuous improvement. The Trust Protocol’s data-driven approach is aligned with these values and will help Under Armour reinforce its commitment to sustainable sourcing.”

The Trust Protocol positions itself as the first sustainable cotton fibre programme to provide comprehensive, verifiable data at scale to demonstrate impact, an approach intended to differentiate participating growers and offer brands clearer sourcing transparency. In its 2024/25 annual report, the organisation said its membership now includes more than 1,500 growers and that participants have recorded measurable progress across all six sustainability metrics since 2015.

For Under Armour, the US Cotton Trust Protocol membership adds a new layer of measurement and traceability to cotton procurement, as brands face increasing pressure from regulators and consumers to substantiate sustainability performance with credible data.

The project—called the Levi’s Regenerative and Resilient Landscape Initiative (LRI)—began in January in Jalalpur Pirwala, located in Punjab’s Multan district. Levi Strauss describes the area as strategically significant for national cotton output. Implementation is being led by WWF-Pakistan, with additional support from the Laudes Foundation. The work also sits under a larger umbrella programme, the Regenerative Production Landscape Collaborative (RPLC), which spans Brazil, India, Pakistan and Tanzania and targets one million hectares in total.

Levi Strauss said Pakistan is a priority geography for watershed and landscape restoration given mounting environmental constraints on agriculture. “These challenges are prominently at play in Pakistan, which is why the country is already a priority focus area for watershed restoration as part of our 2030 water strategy.”

Over an initial three-year period, the LRI plans to work across 10,000 hectares, using an approach that treats farms as part of a connected system—linking cultivation practices to community outcomes, water resources and biodiversity. The company said the programme will combine farmer engagement with technical support, aiming to shift practices in a way that can be sustained beyond the project’s direct involvement.

Early progress indicators shared through March 2026 suggest the programme is already scaling participation. WWF-Pakistan and partners have held outreach sessions engaging nearly 600 farmers, established 20 field schools and trained 165 participants through practical modules focused on soil health and water conservation. The project has also taken 100 soil samples to establish a baseline for measuring improvement over time.

To strengthen delivery capacity on the ground, WWF-Pakistan also ran a four-day training-of-trainers in Multan to equip project staff with core skills in regenerative agriculture, soil management and water stewardship—capabilities intended to improve the consistency and quality of farmer support.

The next phase of the programme is expected to focus on increasing on-farm water productivity, cutting reliance on synthetic fertilisers and pesticides, and building soil organic matter—key pillars of regenerative cotton farming. It also plans to plant 100,000 trees to support biodiversity and sequester carbon, with these targets intended to be achieved by 2028.

Alongside environmental outcomes, the initiative is designed to improve household resilience by lowering input costs, supporting climate adaptation and helping stabilise farm livelihoods. The programme will also engage government and industry stakeholders in an effort to encourage wider uptake, with Levi Strauss positioning the work as part of its longer-term goal to “protect and restore” biodiversity linked to raw-material sourcing by 2030.

Designed as a scale-up step, the nylon 6,6 biorecycling plant will translate Epoch Biodesign’s patented biological process into a working site able to handle several hundred tonnes of post-consumer nylon 6,6 each year. The company’s system uses AI-engineered enzymes to break down complex nylon-containing waste streams—ranging from silicon-coated airbag fabrics and elastane-blended textiles to end-of-life clothing—into their original chemical building blocks.

Epoch says the recovered monomers are “virgin-quality” and can be fed back into nylon 6,6 manufacturing supply chains, offering a route to true material circularity. Unlike conventional chemical recycling, which often depends on high heat and capital-intensive infrastructure, Epoch positions its biological approach as selective and lower-energy, with the potential to reduce carbon emissions.

Founder and CEO Jacob Nathan said one of the key benefits is what the process avoids, enabling more flexible siting in urban environments. “One of the most important advantages of our biological process is what it does not do. It does not require high temperatures. It does not demand the heavy industrial infrastructure that has historically meant manufacturing must be sited far from where people live and work.

“The Grapht Works facility sits inside a broader urban neighbourhood in London. The fact that we can build and operate a nylon 6,6 recycling plant in Greater London is not incidental; it is a feature of the clean, low-energy process our team has developed. This is what genuinely circular, industrial biochemistry looks like.”

Epoch expects demand for compliant end-of-life options to grow quickly as new EU requirements under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation begin to apply from July 2026, including a ban on destroying unsold garments. The company also pointed to the broader recycling gap—less than 1% of textiles currently become new textiles—as evidence that infrastructure needs to scale rapidly.

Chief commercial officer Luciano Caruso said the plant is designed to process waste sourced from apparel, automotive and industrial uses, and argued that regulatory and societal pressure is closing off traditional disposal routes. “The Grapht Works plant has the capacity to process hundreds of tonnes of post-consumer nylon 6,6 waste a year: this is sourced from apparel and automotive products, as well as various industrial applications. New EU regulations require these industries to confront what they do with end-of-life nylon, and incineration or landfill are no longer acceptable answers.

“The new plant validates our biological process both technically and commercially, demonstrating to industry partners and policymakers that a truly circular, clean, and economically viable route to nylon recycling exists today. This is the start of a sustainable, resilient supply chain of a critical material, without the pricing volatility associated with petrochemical-derived products.”

The announcement follows a Memorandum of Understanding signed in February with INVISTA, one of the world’s major nylon producers, aimed at developing commercial-scale post-consumer recycled nylon 6,6. Epoch Biodesign is also a member of the T2T Alliance and says it has raised more than $50 million from investors including lululemon, Lowercarbon Capital, Extantia, KOMPAS VC, Happiness Capital, Leitmotif and Inditex (Mundi Ventures).

With the Q3 2026 launch target, Epoch’s London project becomes a high-profile test of whether enzyme-driven recycling can move beyond pilots into a repeatable industrial model—one that could make the nylon 6,6 biorecycling plant concept viable for additional regions and larger volumes over time.