Dive Brief:
- Reju, a textile-to-textile-regeneration company owned by technology firm Technip Energies, opened its first manufacturing facility this week, according to a press release sent to Fashion Dive.
- The Frankfurt, Germany-based plant is expected to produce 1,000 metric tons of the company’s proprietary product, called Reju Polyester, CEO Patrik Frisk said at a Wednesday event announcing the initiative. Reju expects to begin deliveries in 2025, per the release, although no brand partners have been announced yet.
- Frisk said the company plans to open two additional plants by 2027 — one in Europe and one in the U.S. — each with the capacity to produce 50,000 metric tons of Reju’s recycled polyester, which is expected to have a 50% lower carbon footprint than virgin polyester.
Dive Insight:
Launched last year, Reju is focused on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) textile recycling, using technology developed through a partnership with IBM, Under Armour and Technip Energies. This technology acts as a molecular sorter, potentially allowing PET textiles to be “regenerated infinitely,” according to a press release announcing the company’s launch.
Reju will “guarantee textile-to-textile traceability from textile waste that would otherwise be buried, burnt or dumped,” per the release, which noted that the Frankfurt facility, called Regeneration Hub Zero, is the company’s first major milestone toward that goal.
“The world produces 92 million tons of textile waste each year, yet less than 1% is recycled,” Frisk said in the release. “It is a system that extracts finite resources creating textile waste with no responsibility for end-of-life. Reju is going to change that by unlocking a new system through critical partnerships around the world.”
Frisk is a fashion industry veteran. Prior to joining Reju, he was CEO of Under Armour Inc., CEO of Aldo Group and held executive leadership roles at VF Corp. including president of Timberland and vice president and general manager of The North Face.
Reju parent company Technip Energies is an engineering and technology firm specializing in sustainable chemistry, hydrogen solutions, and CO2 management, per the release.
