Work- & Protective Wear, Defense

CLOSING THE LOOP IN THE WORKWEAR INDUSTRY

Saal A
Mittwoch, 10.09.2025, 14:30 - 14:50 Uhr

Most textile products, such as workwear, are not designed for recycling in mind, making the recycling process both costly and complex. This presentation highlights how Resortecs’ design-for-disassembly solution streamlines textile recycling, particularly for workwear with complex, multi-layered components and mixed materials. Collaboration across the supply chain is key for achieving circularity; localized consortia are being created to connect stakeholders and establish an end-of-life ecosystem for textile waste.

Sprecher
Acerina Trejo Machin (Resortecs)
Most textile products today are too complex or costly to recycle due to their lack of design for disassembly, recycling or circularity. Research shows that 9% of clothing is multilayered and 78% of all clothes contain mixed materials or disruptors such as zippers, and buttons which hinder recycling. To address this challenge, Resortecs has developed a design-for-disassembly solution that simplifies textile recycling for brands, sorters, and recyclers, by combining heat-dissolvable stitching threads and thermal disassembly systems. It enables up to 65% compared to manual disassembly, while also reducing processing time by up to 90%. This solution unlocks textile-to-textile recycling, improving upgradability, repairability and circularity in textiles. Collaboration across the supply chain is essential for achieving circularity. Resortecs is spearheading the creation of localized consortia, connecting stakeholders to establish end-of-life ecosystems. This presentation highlights the first workwear consortium in the Benelux-France region and showcases products automatically disassembled to separate trims, reflective ribbons, and/or multilayered fabrics, demonstrating the potential of this approach for driving systemic change and setting new standards for circularity within the sector.