Inditex to buy recycled polyester in a 70-million-euro deal

Inditex, which includes fashion chains Zara and Bershka, has signed a three-year agreement with Los Angeles-based material science company Ambercycle to buy its recycled polyester in a deal worth more than 70 million euros.

The move will see the retail group buying a “significant portion” of the annual production of Cycora, the innovative material made from post-industrial and post-consumer polyester waste, as part of its goal to have 25 percent of its textile fibres to come from "next generation" materials by 2030.

The purchase commitment is also essential to support the construction of Ambercycle's first commercial-scale textile regeneration factory, the retail group said in a statement. Production of Cycora at the new facility is expected to begin around 2025.

Javier Losada, chief sustainability officer at Inditex, said: "At Inditex, we are committed to achieving circularity in the fashion industry. We want to drive innovation to scale up new solutions, processes and materials to achieve textile-to-textile recycling.

“Ambercycle’s groundbreaking molecular regeneration technology transforms end-of-life textiles into new materials, effectively reducing waste and emissions in the production cycle.”

As part of the agreement, Zara Athleticz, the retailer’s sportswear brand, has launched its first capsule collection in collaboration with Ambercycle, featuring technical pieces crafted with up to 50 percent Cycora content. The collection will be available on Zara’s website.

Shay Sethi, chief executive of Ambercycle, added: "Ambercycle’s goal is to enable circularity by replacing virgin polyester with textile-to-textile regenerated Cycora. Our partnership with Inditex represents a monumental leap towards realizing circularity at scale in the fashion industry.”