The global textile industry faces significant sustainability challenges, with less than 0.3% of textiles being truly circular, and the majority of clothing produced ending up in either landfills or incinerators1. In this context, Recover™, a leading materials science company, has demonstrated notable progress in setting new benchmarks for business expansion and environmental stewardship earning dual recognition in the 2025 Just Style Excellence Awards.
Recover™ won the Business Expansion award in the Recycled Fibers category for its strategic global growth in recycled cotton fiber production, marked by the establishment of new facilities in key textile regions and a robust supply network. The company received the Environmental award in the Recycled Materials category for its proven ability to significantly reduce resource consumption and emissions through transparent measurement and responsible sourcing practices in its recycled materials operations.
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The Just Style Excellence Awards honor the most significant achievements and innovations in the apparel and textile industry. Powered by GlobalData’s business intelligence, the Awards recognize the people and companies leading positive change and shaping the future of the industry.
Scaling of global operations in recycled cotton fibers
Recover™’s business expansion award reflects its strategic approach to scaling recycled cotton fiber production and building a resilient, global supply network. The company collaborates with a worldwide network of waste collectors and sorters to source its feedstock, focusing primarily on post-industrial textile waste, though it possesses the technical capability to process both post-industrial and post-consumer materials. This sourcing strategy ensures a consistent and high-quality input stream for its recycling operations.
A core element of Recover™’s expansion strategy is proximity—locating recycling facilities close to both textile waste sources and major garment manufacturing regions. This approach minimizes transportation needs, reduces environmental impact, and enables the company to support brands and retailers with efficient, reliable supply chains. Recover™ now operates five recycling centers in key textile hubs: Spain, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam (operational in 2025), and El Salvador (joint venture commencing in 2025). This global footprint positions Recover™ among the highest-capacity cotton recyclers worldwide, allowing brands to integrate recycled fibers into their portfolios regardless of operational complexity or geographic reach.
The opening of the Vietnam facility in December 2024 marks a significant milestone in Recover™’s expansion. Located in Dong Nai province—an area central to Vietnam’s role as the world’s third-largest textile exporter—the nearly 14,000m² factory is equipped with two advanced recycling lines and a dedicated laboratory to ensure product consistency and quality. With an annual production capacity of 10,000 metric tons, the facility is designed to meet the growing demand for sustainable materials in the region and globally.
In May 2025, Recover™ announced a joint venture with Intradeco in El Salvador, further strengthening its presence in the Americas. This initiative leverages El Salvador’s strategic location within the CAFTA region, providing nearshore, flexible supply chain solutions for brands responding to shifting trade dynamics. The new plant will operate close to both textile waste and manufacturing streams, supporting fast lead times, cost efficiency, and a reduced carbon footprint. The collaboration also helps US textile and apparel manufacturers address compliance requirements such as the UFLPA while meeting increasing demand for nearshoring.
Recover™’s operational scale is complemented by its investment in traceability and transparency. The company employs both physical and digital tracers, integrated with platforms like Textile Genesis, to ensure end-to-end tracking of recycled fiber content. This capability supports compliance with emerging regulations and enables brands to substantiate their sustainability claims. Recover™’s facilities maintain Global Recycled Standard (GRS) and ISO certifications, and its laboratory accreditations support both internal quality assurance and partner validation.
By building a robust, global infrastructure and fostering strategic collaborations, Recover™ enables brands and retailers to adopt recycled cotton fibers as core materials, supporting the industry’s transition toward circularity.
“This award affirms Recover’s vision to scale recycled cotton on a global level while staying close to both raw materials and manufacturing hubs. Our growing network, now spanning five countries, enables us to deliver consistent, traceable fiber solutions that help brands meet sustainability goals without compromising speed, quality, or reliability.”
– Matthew Neville, Chief Commercial Officer, Recover™
Sustainability in action: Recover™’s environmental results with recycled materials
Recover™’s environmental award is grounded in its transparent, data-driven approach to measuring and reducing the environmental impact of textile production. The fashion industry faces a mounting textile waste crisis, with over 100 million tonnes of textiles discarded annually and less than 0.3% recycled into new garments. Recover™ addresses this challenge by offering a scalable, low-impact, and commercially viable solution through its recycled cotton fiber technology.
Central to Recover™’s sustainability strategy is the regular conduct of Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) across its production facilities. LCAs are scientific methods, guided by ISO 14040 and 14044 standards, that measure a product’s environmental footprint across multiple impact categories. Recover™’s LCAs, conducted in Spain (2022) and expanded to Bangladesh (2025), are independently verified by EcoReview and utilize the Ecochain Helix foot-printing tool. This rigorous approach provides customers and stakeholders with credible, third-party-verified data.
According to Recover™’s LCAs, each kilogram of recycled cotton fiber produced saves up to 99.9% of water, 93% of CO2 equivalent emissions, 99.9% of eutrophication, 96% of energy, and 100% of land use compared to conventional cotton. In 2024 alone, Recover™ conserved 21.6 billion liters of water and avoided 20,493 metric tons of CO2 equivalent emissions. These results are particularly significant as brands and retailers set ambitious targets for recycled content and seek to reduce their environmental footprints.
Recover™’s environmental leadership extends beyond product innovation to responsible sourcing and ethical labor practices. The company’s Responsible Sourcing Committee has implemented comprehensive improvement plans with all suppliers in Bangladesh, including worker identification, continuous verification to prevent child labor, enhanced workplace safety, and transparent payroll systems. These initiatives support improved working conditions and align with global expectations for ethical supply chains.
Traceability is another cornerstone of Recover™’s environmental strategy. The company’s physical tracer solution, combined with digital platforms, enables brands to verify the presence of Recover™ recycled cotton in their products and comply with regulatory requirements such as the Digital Product Passport. Collaborative projects, such as the Tracing Textile Waste initiative with Target and Fashion for Good, further advance industry standards and best practices in textile recycling and circularity.
Through its transparent reporting, rigorous measurement, and commitment to responsible sourcing, Recover™ provides brands with the tools and data needed to make informed decisions and drive accountability in the transition to a more sustainable textile industry.
“This award is a testament to our commitment to measurable impact and full transparency. Our independently verified data proves that Recover™ recycled cotton can drastically cut water use, land use, and emissions while scaling responsibly. At Recover™, sustainability goes far beyond simply increasing circularity—it is key to supporting and achieving our company purpose.”
– Ana Rodes, Head of Sustainability, Recover™
Company Profile
Recover™ is a leading materials science company and global producer of low-impact, high-quality recycled cotton fiber and cotton fiber blends. Its premium, environmentally friendly, and cost-competitive products are created in partnership with the supply chain for global retailers and brands, offering a sustainable solution to achieve circular fashion for all. Backed by recent investment from STORY3 Capital and Goldman Sachs, Recover™ is on a mission to scale its proprietary technology to make a lasting positive impact on the environment and partner with brands/ retailers and other change-makers to meet the industry’s sustainability targets.
For more information, visit www.recoverfiber.com and follow @recoverfiber on social media.
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References:
1. Circularity Gap Report Textiles, Circle Economy & H&M Foundation, 2024
