This exclusive article from recycling technology company, RE&UP, looks at why the path to recycled content targets must also preserve durability and design integrity
AMSTERDAM – As the fashion industry accelerates toward circularity goals, a new tension is emerging: how do we increase recycled content without sacrificing product quality, durability, and long-term wearability?
The issue is particularly complex when it comes to cotton. Industrial waste (clean, sorted, and relatively easy to work with) has historically been the easier entry point for fibre-to-fibre recycling. Post-consumer waste, however, presents greater challenges: it’s less predictable, often contains multiple fibre types and carries the physical wear of its previous life.
Yet this is the most important area as the EU is set to create approximately 7 million tons of textile waste each year. Which is exactly why the industry urgently needs to address this type of waste.
“We can’t afford to design circular systems that only work in ideal conditions,” says Andreas Dorner – general manager, RE&UP. “Post-consumer waste is where the real impact lies, but it’s also where the complexity ramps up.”
This complexity is leading many brands to confront the balancing act between recycled content and performance. Many brands believe that hitting recycled content targets is important, but only if the final product still meets consumer expectations for quality and durability.
RE&UP sits at the heart of this conversation. The company produces Next-Gen recycled materials from both post-consumer and industrial textile waste, engineered to meet the performance standards of virgin materials. The idea is to eliminate the trade-off: brands shouldn’t have to choose between circularity and quality.
Still, that ‘sweet spot’ between recycled content and product longevity isn’t fixed. It varies by fibre, use case, and production setup. That’s why RE&UP is working closely with innovative spinners and brands to co-develop yarns and fabrics that are tailored to real-world performance demands. This includes thoughtful integration of Next Gen fibres across product lines, beginning with modest levels of recycled content and scaling up strategically over time.
In polyester, the textile-to-textile process shows minimal loss in quality and offers the potential for multiple recycling cycles. Cotton, however, is more sensitive: each round of recycling naturally shortens the fibres, requiring careful blending and expert handling to maintain performance.
The key lies in using these materials where they make the most sense and doing so with precision and purpose. “Circularity has to be both credible and commercial,” explains Dorner. “If recycled fibres can’t meet durability standards, they won’t scale. If they don’t scale, they won’t have impact.”
Part of the solution also lies in how we think about product design. If garments are created with their second or third life in mind, from fibre selection to construction techniques, we can avoid some of the quality trade-offs altogether. But that requires an ecosystem-wide shift, from design studios to policy rooms.
Policy could also play a more active role in defining what meaningful circularity looks like. It’s one thing to set recycled content mandates; it’s another to ensure those mandates align with lifecycle impact, durability metrics and true recyclability.
“It’s not about stuffing recycled fibres into every product,” says Dorner. “It’s about adding them as core components of the product range. Starting with a lower content amount and building over time where it makes the most sense, always ensuring performance. That’s how we drive real, lasting change.”
Ultimately, the industry must stop treating recycled content and product quality as mutually exclusive goals. The future of fashion depends on designing systems (and materials) that can deliver both. At RE&UP, that work is already underway.
