Since 2022, Refashion has funded and supported material sorting & preprocessing and recycling experiments from non-reusable post-consumer textiles and footwear. The experiments are open to European sorters, material preprocessors and recyclers registered on the Refashion Recycle platform. More than a hundred experiments have been run on a variety of textile materials (cotton, polyester, blends...) as well as on footwear, based on recyclers’ material specifications. Participating sorters have delivered batches of prepared materials to mechanical, thermomechanical and chemical recyclers, for a total of 100 tons. Some recycling experiments also occurred for mature recycling technologies, targeting both closed and open-loop applications. In 2025, Refashion continues to support these experiments, focusing on incorporation of recycled materials to validate complete value chains in Europe and boost demand for recycled materials derived from non-reusable post-consumer textiles and footwear.