Adidas has teamed up with H&M Group for an EU-funded sustainable fashion project that aims to develop a circular economy for clothing. The project will involve recycling of old garments and fibers into new items for major high street brands.

Over three years, the New Cotton Project will see textile waste collected and sorted via consumer apparel take-back programs, then regenerated into cellulose-based textile fibers by Finnish biotechnology specialist Infinited Fiber Company, the 12 project partners confirmed.

The resulting fiber will be used to create different types of fabrics for clothing that are designed, manufactured and sold by global sportswear brand Adidas and retail companies in the H&M Group, they explained.

The project is being led by Infinited Fiber Company, alongside a consortium of 11 other companies and organizations spanning the entire supply chain, including manufacturers Inovafil, Tekstina and Kipas, which will use old garments to produce yarns, woven fabrics and denim, respectively.

Textile recycling specialist Frankenhuis, meanwhile, has been tasked with sorting and pre-processing the textile waste, and South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences (Xamk) aims to develop a technical solution for the continuous processing of textile waste fibers for pre-treatment, they said.

In addition, Revolve Waste has been appointed to collect and manage data on textile waste to estimate feedstock availability across Europe, while RISE — Sweden's state-owned research institute — has been brought on board to conduct sustainability analyses and manage eco-labelling for garments created through the project.