Revolutionising the textile Industry - The Path to 100% Recyclable Garments
BlockTexx® has developed first-to-market innovations. Using our PolyTexx® rPET, our partner INGWE has developed a range of trims and components designed specifically for the textile industry.
September 14, 2025
So, what does design for circularity really look like, and how do we close the loop?
Significant challenges within the fashion and textile industry have inspired me to seek and develop circular solutions. With over 35 years of experience in the industry, I'm driven to explore how we can revolutionise the production and manufacturing of clothing. My role as Design Innovation manager at BlockTexx® has fuelled my passion to develop a roadmap for circularity from design, through to manufacture, and recycling of garments to close the loop and reintegrate unrealised value back into the production process.
Circular Design, Design for End-of-Life, and Eco-Design have become paramount in the fashion and textile industry. These concepts are now essential for any responsible business owner, designer, product developer, and marketer.
The global increase in textile waste has captured the attention of governments, brands, and organizations involved in textile and clothing production. Notably, a significant portion of end-of-life clothing and textiles destined for landfill can now be transformed into valuable resources for various industries. To unlock the potential of unwanted textiles and clothing, the industry requires a fundamental redesign that prioritises collaboration and transparency throughout the supply chain.
The need for systems to manage end-of-life textiles has become increasingly evident in recent years, leading to the emergence of Extended producer responsibility (EPR) systems for textiles. Just last week, the European Parliament passed landmark rules for textiles, making producers responsible for the costs of collecting, sorting, and recycling discarded clothing. Textile producers, including e-commerce sellers, are required to comply with these new guidelines within a 30-month timeframe.
As these EPR schemes develop, brands and manufacturers must focus on transitioning to garments designed and manufactured for durability, repairability, and recyclability. This shift aims to extend product life and minimize the impact on people and the planet.
However, we are still not addressing what happens when these garments eventually reach the end of their useful life and are no longer wanted.
For this to become a reality, a clear pathway for all textiles is needed. A future where resource recovery and recycling solutions operate at scale, demonstrating full circularity with 100% recyclable garments.
BlockTexx® is a clean technology company that operates the world’s first commercial-scale, chemical recycling facility for blended fabrics. Our patented Separation of Fibre Technology (S.O.F.T.™) recovers recycled polyester (PolyTexx®) and micro-crystalline cellulose (CellTexx®) from hard-to-recycle and most widely used, cotton/polyester blends and reintroduces them into the manufacturing supply chain as high-value raw materials. Our pioneering process and unique ecosystem for unwanted textiles have given us valuable insights into the DNA of garments.
Through our scientific and analytic methods, we unpick the very fabric that makes up a garment. Through every stage of our process, we capture critical garment knowledge, including data around fibre types and the chemical makeup of fabric finishes and trims. This information becomes the building blocks of future garments. It guides material choices and even garment construction, ensuring they are ready for resource recovery, whilst demonstrating full circularity through the trims and components used.
The textile industry’s shift to better design choices has largely been centred on the main fabrics, dyes, and components used to construct them. We ask questions about our fabrics and linings but the threads, fusing, trims and finishes of that garment are rarely disclosed.
A traditional work shirt is a good example to illustrate this. We know the fibre content of the main body fabric can be found on the content label. If a contrast fabric or lining is used, this will also often be identified but the fibre content or chemical makeup of the fusing, trims, components and the label itself is not known.
Let's get even more technical.
When we specify a polyester button, do we know what resin is used? Synthetic resin buttons can be categorised into various subtypes of plastics such as acrylics, polyesters, silicones, polyurethanes and many more. It is critical to know what type of resin is used. By using the correct synthetic resin, buttons can take a shirt from being 80% recyclable to 100%.
By redesigning the shirt for resource recovery and recycling, we are forced to consider what design details are necessary or superfluous to the function of the item. What once may have been thought of as a great design detail may become unnecessary waste.
To solve some of these complex circular design challenges, BlockTexx’s Design innovation team is involved in research, design, and development of next generation materials and apparel technologies. Our job is to develop trims and components for garments. Materials that are 100% recyclable and resource recovery ready.
Our goal is to transition from traditional materials used in trims and components which have no end-of-life value to materials that are positive circular alternatives, created to be recycled.
We are not alone in this mission, we are collaborating with global trim and component manufacturers to develop a library of BlockTexx® approved materials that supports our customer’s future design choices.
To demonstrate full circularity, we have developed first-to-market innovations.
Using our PolyTexx® rPET, our manufacturing partners have developed a range of trims and components designed specifically for the textile industry. These trims are made from 100% post-consumer recycled textiles, truly showcasing circular design in action.
The result is future-proofed garments designed and manufactured for circularity that deliver a textile and clothing industry that is built using 100% recyclable materials. An industry where designers follow the path to 100% recyclable garments through sustainable fabrics and onto recyclable threads, trims and components.
