#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

textile.4U publishes special edition “Top 100 Textile Recycling Companies 2025”

With a comprehensive 176-page special edition, textile.4U is dedicating its latest issue entirely to one of the most dynamic and influential topics in today’s textile industry: textile recycling. The new issue, published exclusively in high-quality print, presents the Top 100 textile recycling companies researched and selected by TexData – organizations that already play a key role in the transition to circular textiles or are expected to have a significant impact in the near future.

Responsible Textile Recovery Act of 2024 signed by Governor

Senator Josh Newman (D-Fullerton) is proud to announce that Senate Bill 707 (SB 707), the Responsible Textile Recovery Act of 2024, has been signed into law by the Governor of California, Gavin Newsom. This groundbreaking legislation establishes the country’s first Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) textile recycling program, marking a significant step forward in the state’s efforts to combat waste and promote sustainability.

Modtissimo promotes sustainability with 28 coordinates in the Green Circle

Modtissimo is proving more and more to be a textile and clothing show that delivers the latest innovations in the area of sustainability, with the iTechStyle Green Circle being the main showcase for companies' creations. In this 60+4 edition, taking place on 12 and 13 September, 28 coordinates will be exhibited in a section organised by CITEVE and curated by Paulo Gomes.

The EU and Egypt team up to mobilise private sector investments at Investment Conference and sign a Memorandum of Understanding underpinning €1 billion in macro-financial assistance for Egypt

At the EU-Egypt Investment Conference, co-organised by the EU and the Government of Egypt on 29-30 June, the EU and Egypt are teaming up to intensify private sector investments in Egypt. They are also signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the disbursement to Egypt of up to €1 billion in Macro-Financial Assistance.

Textile‑to‑textile recycling leader Circulose joins Spinnova’s ecosystem to accelerate technology scale‑up

Textile‑to‑textile recycling leader Circulose joins Spinnova’s ecosystem (consortium) to help advance the scale‑up of Spinnova’s technology. Spinnova has actively sought partners to accelerate commercial scale‑up, and Circulose, as a key player in textile recycling, strengthens the ecosystem by providing a raw material that is in high demand across the industry.

Circ announces new Fiber Club partners to accelerate commercial adoption of recycled textiles

Circ®, a global leader in textile‑to‑textile recycling, announced the scaling of its Fiber Club initiative. Building on the success of the inaugural program, Circ is bringing together a new group of brand partners: the lifestyle brand Madewell(under J.Crew Group), sustainable fashion brand Reformation, and European retailer C&A, alongside supply chain partners Lenzing and Linz Textil.

RETECH showcases high-precision godets for high-performance fiber processing at Techtextil 2026

RETECH designs and manufactures godets and draw frames for heated, ambient and cooled processes, enabling precise heat treatment and consistently high yarn quality for a wide range of polymers and applications, with process temperatures of up to 400 °C for high-performance fibers. The company’s key competence lies in exact and stable temperature and speed control, individually adapted to the specific material and process requirements.

Driving WARP KNIT Inspiration

KARL MAYER sees performance fabrics and next-level textile solutions in particular as potential growth drivers for its customers, as a motor for business development and as real game changers for the entire textile industry. Innovation does not happen by chance. It is the result of close exchange with customers & brands, textile expertise and competence in textile machine engineering. This is why KARL MAYER is investing in progress and collaborative development and opening its TEXTILE INNOVATION CEN-TER (TIC) – a place to be for the entire textile world.

Knowledge that drives progress: Techtextil and Texprocess forums strengthen the global textile industry with a future-oriented programme

From AI-supported production optimisation and digital manufacturing solutions to circular technologies and bio-based high-performance materials: the Techtextil and Texprocess forums provide answers to the key challenges of the global textile industry with a curated content programme. As hubs for innovation and knowledge, they enhance competitiveness and offer orientation in changing markets. From 21 to 24 April 2026, Frankfurt is once again the global meeting point for thought leaders from industry, research and business.