#Recycling / Circular Economy

2021-07-01

What is recycled wool and why is it so beneficial for the environment?

In addition to being 100% biodegradable, wool creates further environmental value by being easily reusable and recyclable. Woollen products have an exceptionally long lifespan, meaning that they can often be passed from one generation to the next. However, their stories don’t need to end there. The fibres in woollen garments and furnishings can be mechanically recycled and used to make new products.

What Is Recycled Wool and Why Is It So Beneficial for the Environment?

Many leading textile brands – Marzotto being one example – use recycled wool fibres to produce their high quality garments. The International Wool Textile Organisation (IWTO) examines the practice of recycling wool and explains why it is so beneficial for the environment, producers and end users.

The History of Recycled Wool

Recycling practices are a relatively recent development for most industries. This is not the case for woollen textiles, however. There is a long history in European textiles, going back hundreds of years, of reusing wool fibres to make new garments. Old garments find their way to businesses who have the capacity to reduce them to their constituent fibres and then turn them back into yarn, ready to be knitted into brand new products.

From the early 19th Century, demand for wool has always exceeded supply, making it necessary to recycle existing fibres in an effort to close the gap. Today, with sustainability and conservation being so important to firms and consumers alike, the well-established practice of wool recycling lends itself well to eco-friendly business practices and the creation of garments with a low carbon footprint.

How Wool Recycling Works

The process followed by Comistra, the Italian company that is among the world’s leaders in wool regeneration, serves as an excellent illustration of how this textile is recycled.

Garments that reached the end of their lives are sorted into colours. Next, linings, zippers, labels and other extraneous materials are removed. The stripped down items are then sorted according to fineness and fabric quality. They are then passed through shredding machines to expose the raw wool fibres. Felt workers then bundle the fibres by hand, ready to be spun into yarn.

How Leading Brands Use Recycled Wool

Marzotto is a well-established Italian clothing manufacturer, who put recycled wool fibres to good use in their celebrated Lanerossi collection. The fibres are taken from the company’s own factory scraps, which are sorted by colour and then shredded and respun into yarn. The collection combines these pure wool fibres with polyester ones, taken from recycled plastic bottles. Through this process, Marzotto ensures that not a single wool fibre is wasted. This in turn allows the company to reduce its environmental impact substantially.

Learn More About Wool and All Its Uses and Benefits

Wool an extremely diverse material, with one of the major benefits being that it is sustainable for the environment. If you are looking to source recycled wool and yarn, we have compiled a list of relevant IWTO Members, their product descriptions and contact details. You can find that here:

https://iwto.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/20210505_IWTO_Recycled-Wool_FA.pdf

Texprocess 2026: Automation, digitalisation and AI redefine textile processing

Making investment decisions in textile processing has become significantly more demanding. Increasing energy costs, a shortage of skilled labour and ongoing geopolitical uncertainties are compelling companies to focus on technologies that deliver clear gains in efficiency and process reliability. This applies equally to apparel manufacturing and to the processing of technical textiles and high-performance materials. As a result, modernisation initiatives are assessed more carefully – even as the need to upgrade production systems continues to intensify.

Techtextil 2026: Between innovation pressure & market reality

From 21 to 24 April 2026, Techtextil in Frankfurt am Main will once again become the central meeting point for the international technical textiles and nonwovens industry. Running in parallel, Texprocess will focus on the industrial implementation of textile processing technologies as the leading platform in this field. Together, the two trade fairs form a closely integrated presentation and working platform along the entire textile value chain – from material development to finished applications.

Between geopolitical pressure and industrial resilience

In this interview, Dr. Janpeter Horn (VDMA) discusses the current challenges facing textile machinery manufacturers, shaped by geopolitical tensions, regulatory developments and subdued investment. He also outlines why innovation strength, integrated solutions and strategic positioning remain key to global competitiveness.

Circulose and CTA announce collaboration to enable lyocell fibers using CIRCULOSE® pulp

Circulose has announced an agreement with China Textile Academy Green Fibre (CTA) to offer lyocell fibers produced using CIRCULOSE® pulp. Producing lyocell from recycled pulp at commercial scale is an important step in making textile-to-textile recycled materials available across a wider range of textile applications.

Solving the Feedstock Gap: Unlocking Post-consumer Feedstocks for Textile-to-Textile Recycling in Europe

Fashion for Good launches Project FAE (Feedstock Activation Europe) to develop the sorting and pre-processing infrastructure needed to channel non-rewearable post-consumer textiles into textile-to-textile (T2T) recycling at scale. The project is a practical response to one of the most pressing problems in textile circularity: making post-consumer waste a viable, commercially competitive raw material for recyclers.

BASF at Techtextil 2026: Helping to shape the future of the textile industry with tangible solutions

At the leading international trade fair for technical textiles and nonwovens from April 21 to 24, 2026 at the Messe Frankfurt, BASF will present numerous solutions and new projects in the textile sector to customers and partners at booth B 68 in hall 11.0. The focus is on product innovations and future-oriented technologies.

Techtextil 2026: KARL MAYER impresses as an innovative sector partner

KARL MAYER looks back with satisfaction on its participation in Techtextil 2026. From April 21 to 24, the international industry leader used the trade show in Frankfurt to meet with numerous key customers at its booth and, at the same time, establish many new contacts. Most visitors came from Germany, followed by major markets such as Poland, the United Kingdom, Turkey, France, and Portugal.

BTMA backs global growth while investing in future UK leaders

As one of a number of new initiatives launched this year, the British Textile Machinery Association (BTMA) is launching the UK-India Textile Machinery Coalition. The UK-India Free Trade Agreement, signed in July 2025, has implications that extend across sourcing, competitiveness and long-term trade dynamics, believes BTMA CEO Jason Kent.

China projected to increase cotton production, yields, and imports in 2026/27

World cotton production in the 2026/27 season is projected at 25.9 million tonnes, exceeding global consumption of 25.2 million tonnes, according to the May 2026 issue of Cotton This Month. That means both production and consumption are expected to remain close to current season levels, while global cotton trade is projected to decline by 2.7% to approximately 9.6-9.7 million tonnes.