Dutch recycled fibre specialist Re&Up has signed a letter of intent for a multi-year collaboration with German sport apparel and equipment brand Puma, and will help the latter deploy its Re:Fibre textile recycling programme in the USA.
Re&Up
The partnership is consistent with Puma’s intention of reducing its dependence on polyester fibres derived from recycled plastic bottles. The German group’s goal is to replace 30% of such fibres with recycled polyester sourced from a closed fibre-to-fibre loop by 2030.
“Our collaboration with Re&Up opens exciting possibilities for integrating virgin-equivalent recycled materials into our products,” said Howard Williams, head of global innovation apparel and accessories at Puma. “These materials offer the performance we need while helping us achieve our circularity goals,” he added.
Re&Up was founded in 2023 and is a subsidiary of Turkish conglomerate Sanko. Re&Up’s Turkish plant is said to currently be able to transform 80,000 tons of textile waste per year, and the company is planning to boost its capacity to 1 million tons by 2030. Re&Up utilises renewable energy and advanced bleaching methods in its industrial process, and is able to work with cotton fibres too.
“The proven quality of our products, our ability to process diverse textile compositions, our annual capacity of 80,000 tons, and our commitment to renewable energy reinforces our mission to produce Next-Gen materials and establish circularity as the standard for the textile industry,” said Özgür Atsan, chief commercial officer at Re&Up.
Together with Circ, Circulose and Syre, three closed-loop textile recycling specialists, Re&Up has recently formed the T2T Alliance, a lobbying body that will present a united front with European regulatory authorities.
Every year, 124 million tons of textile fibres are produced worldwide, of which 67% are synthetic, 25% cotton fibres, and 6% cellulose fibres. Recycled fibres accounted for 7.7% of global production in 2024, according to data by Textile Exchange.
