Recover secures $100m to drive growth and brand adoption

Recycled cotton fibre producer Recover has closed a US$100m minority equity capital investment to accelerate its global expansion and production capacity, allowing more rapid adoption of sustainability initiatives by leading brands and retailers.

Recover says the investment round was led by the Sustainable Investing business within Goldman Sachs Asset Management (Goldman Sachs), which is investing alongside majority shareholder STORY3 Capital Partners.

Madrid-based Recover serves retailers, brands and vendors including, among others, Primark, Inditex, C&A, Revolve and Lands’ End. Its proprietary recycled cotton fibre reduces the carbon and water intensity of the apparel supply chain, addressing the sector’s contribution to one of the world’s largest sources of environmental degradation, it says.

The company estimates the new investment places it on a path to increase its production to over 350,000 metric tonnes of recycled cotton fibre per year by 2026.

“Recover has perfected the art and science of scaled production of sustainable recycled cotton fibre over more than 70 years across multiple generations of the Ferre family in Spain. Today, Recover offers a solution grounded in proprietary IP that provides cost-competitive, maximum-performance recycled cotton fibre for both rotor and ring-spinning applications,” says Ben Malka, operating partner at STORY3 Capital Partners and executive chairman of Recover.

Letitia Webster, managing director and chief sustainability officer of Goldman Sachs Asset Management Division, adds: “Goldman Sachs is committed to partnering with innovative businesses that help drive sustainability. Recover is a leading disruptor in the apparel and textiles space with much-needed sustainable solutions grounded in materials science.”

As part of the transaction, Webster will join the Recover board.

Last month, Recover unveiled its new facility in Bangladesh which it says enables it to provide a fully closed-loop solution. The new site expands the materials sciences company’s manufacturing capabilities and accelerates its efforts to transform the fashion industry.

Located in Dhaka, the new manufacturing hub comes fully equipped with Recover’s proprietary machinery, as well as RColorBlend installation, Recover’s innovative technology that provides fibre blends with colour, with a lower environmental impact.