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Textile circular economy starts with design - and does not end with the fiber
01.10.2025
The transformation towards a circular textile economy is one of the biggest challenges and opportunities facing the industry. While many discussions understandably focus on recycling technologies and take-back processes, a significant lever lies at the very beginning of the value chain: in design.
After all, what is decided in product design largely determines whether a textile is recyclable at all - and if so, to what degree. This is where the Design for Recycling (DfR) approach comes in: To design products in such a way that they can be returned to the material cycle at the end of their life cycle and with as little effort as possible and without significant loss of quality.
In concrete terms, this means
- Choosing materials that are compatible with recycling.
- Avoiding mixed fibers that cannot be separated.
- The use of sorting-friendly additives.
- A design that enables easy dismantling.
These design principles sometimes conflict with functional or aesthetic requirements. However, it is precisely here that it becomes clear that sustainable design is not directly about doing without, but rather about intelligent design - technically, creatively and strategically.
From product to process: why design alone is not enough
As important as DfR is as a basis, it only unfolds its benefits if it is embedded in a functioning process chain. This means that recyclability must also be practicable. This includes
- functioning sorting systems (e.g. based on optical recognition or digital markers),
- industrial processes for fiber recovery,
- machines that can handle recyclates,
- acceptance structures for recycled fibers.
Circularity is therefore not a characteristic of the product alone; it is the result of coordinated processes and uniform standards.
What's more, mechanical textile recycling has so far mainly worked for single-origin fabrics, particularly those made from wool or cotton. For more complex blended fabrics, existing technologies often reach their limits. The challenge therefore lies not only in the development of new technical solutions, but also in the question of how textile products can and should be designed, documented and traced in the future.
Taking a look at practice
How all these aspects can interact in a real process chain can be observed in October in the recycling studio at ITA Augsburg. During an on-site visit, we will be demonstrating mechanical textile recycling on an industrial scale - from sorting to spinning.
