The collection will be released under Zalando’s YOURTURN and Even&Odd brands this month. Each garment is made from a blend of 20% RE&UP Next-Gen Cotton, produced using pre- and post-consumer textile waste, and 80% organic cotton.
RE&UP says the recycled fibre used in the collection was derived through an automated process that sorts, deconstructs and decolorises previously discarded textiles.
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The process, RE&UP says, yields a fibre with the required technical strength and traceability to meet the quality standards demanded by leading brands for core wardrobe essentials such as cotton t-shirts.
RE&UP chief sustainability officer, Ebru Özküçük Güler explained: “The real measure of circularity is whether it can work in everyday products, at commercial scale. Our collaboration with Zalando is an important example of that transition: bringing textile-to-textile recycled cotton into mainstream collections without compromising the performance expected from the product.
“This is how circularity moves from ambition to infrastructure – through scalable technology, reliable materials and brands willing to integrate them into their core business.”
The integration of recycled fibre into staple t-shirts, which require high durability, consistency, and softness, aims to demonstrate that recycled textile materials can match conventional qualities in widely worn products, boosting confidence within the industry’s supply chain.
Zalando’s adoption of RE&UP’s recycled content within its own brands is described as a tangible step towards expanding sustainable material sources beyond limited pilots and capsule collections.
The scaling of recycled fibres across mainstream product lines is widely considered an essential for embedding circular practices into the wider fashion industry.
Earlier this year, RE&UP launched the Fiber Club consortium, aiming to scale industrial adoption of circular next generation materials.
