How this H&M-backed materials startup is closing the loop to recycle textiles at hyperscale

Polyester is the biggest and fastest growing textile fiber.

And with 60 million tons produced annually with applications across apparel, automotive, and home interior, it’s no surprise that it is surpassing the demand for cotton.

Yet polyester is also the biggest CO2 emitter, accounting for up to 40% of the textile industry’s total CO2 emissions. 

Virgin polyester is produced from petroleum, a non-renewable fossil fuel, ending up in landfill and being incinerated. And bottle-to-fiber recycled polyester is a linear solution. 

What if the textiles we create, use, and throw away are reborn into new, high-quality textile products ensuring an infinite cycle of the past and the future. Could we transition polyester waste into new, circular, polyester?

Syre thinks so. A textile impact company decarbonizing and dewasting the industry through textile-to-textile recycling. At hyperscale.

When multinational fashion retailer, H&M couldn’t find a global partner to meet their long-term need for recycled polyester, together with Vargas Holdings, they built it. And Syre was born.

This new venture, Syre, meaning Oxygen in Swedish, was created to specialize in hyperscale textile recycling.

With a track record as Chief Operations Officer for electric car brand Polestar, CEO of Zenuity, and VP at Volvo Cars, Dennis Nobelius and his team now lead Syre. 

As part of the agreement with H&M. Dennis and the team landed a big offtake agreement, where the brand committed 50% of all their forecasted supply for the next 7 next years. 

A contract worth $600 million in revenue. With this and their $100M Series A raise earlier this year they are primed to make rapid progress.

Creating Impact with Volume

Syre’s depolymerization process breaks down waste textiles into BHET (Bis(2-Hydroxyethyl) terephthalate), a key chemical building block, which is then repolymerized into PET, the chemical foundation of polyester. The recycled PET can be spun into yarn, which is used to produce new fabrics and materials, creating a closed-loop recycling system.

Syre are creating regional loops in America, Europe, including the northern part of Africa, and then in Southeast Asia with a completely different scaling approach than we currently see today. 

Their R&D facility is a 10,000 metric ton plant facility in the US that will be operational within approx. 6 months. Meanwhile they are already shortlisting sites in Vietnam, Portugal and then India, whilst continuing to build in the US.

And by targeting a size that is 250,000 metric tons they can magnify their output when compared to traditional capabilities of 10-30,000 metric tons.

Collaboration Across the Existing Value Chain

Dennis tells us: “We need to collaborate, and we would like to collaborate with more brands. We also want to collaborate with policy makers. Today’s infrastructure is not set up to make recycling a circular business happening at scale.”

Another challenge is also feedstock supply: How do you collect textile waste in a good, structured way and separate out the different fibers so you can recycle it properly?

Beyond Fashion and Apparel

Syre’s approach also tackles material recycling in the home interior and automotive sectors such as airbags, seatbelts, upholsteries, carpets and sofas, all that. 

With IMAS Foundation, the investment arm from IKEA and automaker Volvo on board as investors, Syre is primed to support recycling efforts across these verticals as well as in fashion. 

Coming Up Next

Syre is working at an unprecedented speed and scale, with ambitions to have 12 production plants up and running at full speed and capacity by 2032, they have the potential to produce more than 3 million metric tons of circular polyester, and in total abate +15 million metric tons CO2.

But first, Dennis will be joining us at the HackSummit in New York. Where he will join 600 industry leaders at Newlab on 12-13th December and be on stage to share their progress to make textile-to-textile recycling a hyperscale reality.

For the premier US edition, the HackSummit will focus on an intimate and highly curated event - with just 600 attendees and ensure an ideal breakdown across sector, stage, focus and seniority. Ready to join us? Head this way to lock in your ticket.

P.S. Use code FUTURE20 to save 20% off your pass.