Fashion for Good (FFG) has announced the launch of “Stretching Circularity,” a two-year consortium project dedicated to solving one of the textile industry’s most significant technical challenges: the closed-loop recycling of elastane-blended fabrics. Led by lululemon and featuring major partners like H&M Group and Inditex, the project tests chemical recycling technologies to ensure that stretch materials can be transformed back into high-quality textile raw materials.
With the explosive growth of the athleisure and activewear sectors, the use of elastane (commonly known as spandex or Lycra) has become fundamental. However, this fiber—responsible for the stretch and recovery of garments—has long been considered a “contaminant” in textile recycling. Even small percentages of elastane can disrupt traditional mechanical and chemical processes, as separating elastane from polyester is a highly complex task.
The Scale of the Challenge: The Elastane Barrier
The Fashion for Good analysis points out that current recycling infrastructure is largely unable to handle blended stretch fabrics. The core issues include:
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Contamination: In polyester recycling streams, elastane acts as a contaminant, often reducing the quality of the final recycled resin.
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Resource Loss: Most existing processes simply remove and destroy elastane (via incineration or landfill) rather than recovering it.
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Market Demand: The proportion of elasticated garments in the fashion industry is steadily increasing, making “textile-to-textile” recycling in this segment critical for sustainability goals.
Consortium Collaboration: Global Brands on Board
The “Stretching Circularity” project is not an isolated experiment but a broad industry collaboration. The consortium includes some of the most influential players in the global market:
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Lead Partner: lululemon.
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Brand Partners: H&M Group, Inditex, PVH Corp., Target.
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Support: H&M Foundation.
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Material Experts: The LYCRA Company.
The objective over the two-year period is to validate technologies capable of separating polyester and elastane at the molecular level and recovering both components.
Technological Innovation: The Path of Chemical Separation
The project involves several innovative technology partners experimenting with various chemical processes. Companies participating in the trials include CuRe Technology, gr3n, Ioniqa, and Klöckner Pentaplast.
The project’s planned process steps are:
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Collection and Sorting: Identifying and preparing post-consumer stretch garment waste.
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Chemical Depolymerisation: Breaking down the material to the monomer level, where elastane and polyester molecules can be separated.
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Purification and Repolymerisation: Recovering pure raw materials to create new polyester (rPET) and potentially new elastane fibers.
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Manufacturing: Producing new stretch garments from the recycled fibers to prove the circularity of the process.
Economic and Environmental Expectations
The quantitative goal of “Stretching Circularity” is to prove technological scalability. Consortium members have committed to evaluating the economic viability and environmental footprint of the process at the project’s conclusion. If successful, this technology could pave the way for rescuing millions of tons of currently unrecyclable athletic wear.
The project aims not only to reduce waste but also to decrease dependence on virgin resources, ensuring the fashion industry can produce future elastic textiles from its own waste rather than virgin petroleum.
Official Sources and References:
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Original Press Release (Fashion for Good): Stretching Circularity Project Announcement
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Technical Background: The LYCRA Company – Sustainability Initiatives
