A Dutch-French-Italian partnership has demonstrated that post-consumer textile waste can be transformed into high-quality garments entirely within Europe, marking a breakthrough for regional textile circularity.
The Boer Group, a Dutch textile recycling leader, and Refashion, France’s textile stewardship body, jointly launched the project with support from the ReHubs alliance. Textiles were collected and sorted in France, mechanically processed by Frankenhuis in the Netherlands, and then spun into yarn by Spinaker and knitted by Stella Sky in Italy. Zeeman, the Dutch retailer and end customer, defined product specifications and brought the recycled sweaters to market.
Each sweater contains 70% recycled content, with blue and white textiles selected to naturally colour the yarn, reducing dyeing needs. The eight-month initiative confirmed both the technical and financial feasibility of producing recycled garments locally—reducing greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption, and energy use compared to conventional yarn.
Zeeman’s circular buyer Mariëlle van Dillen said the sweaters’ strong sales “prove that affordable, circular fashion can succeed at scale.” Refashion’s Véronique Allaire added that the project “shows Europe can turn its textile waste into new garments commercially,” positioning the region as a leader in textile-to-textile recycling and sustainable manufacturing.
